TACLOBAN CITY – Local government units in the region should activate their respective dengue brigade.
This call of the Department of Health (DOH) came in the wake of several local government units declaring a state of emergency due to outbreak of dengue virus.
Based on the records of the DOH, among the localities that declared their areas under state of calamity or emergency were Baybay City, Hilongos, both in Leyte; Salcedo, Quinapondan and Hernani, all in Eastern Samar.
“These shows that the mosquito density carrying dengue is high. The local government units must activate their dengue brigades as a preventive and aggressive campaign to destroy all breeding areas of dengue carrying mosquitoes,” Roderick Boyd Cerro, chief of the regional epidemiology and surveillance unit of the DOH-8, said.
Cerro asked the people in the communities to seek for early consultation for early detection and to avoid deaths due to dengue and wear long sleeves, pants and application of mosquito repellents to protect them from being bitten by mosquitoes.
For local government units that will conduct fogging operations, they should be supervised with technical personnel and with proper timing because of the chemicals used which are harmful to health.
Dengue cases were also reported in the cities of Tacloban, Ormoc, Maasin, and Catbalogan as well as in the towns of Cabucgayan, Biliran; Daram and Matuguinao, both in Samar; Mercedes in Eastern Samar.
Aside from dengue, mosquitoes also transmits Chikungunya virus.
Outbreak of the disease were reported in some villages in towns of San Jorge and Tarangnan and Calbayog City, all in Samar province; San Roque, Northern Samar; and in Maripipi, Biliran.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
