Baguio City has recorded a total of seven deaths due to dengue fever from February to July this year as the number of cases rose to 3,011 as of August 1, 2024.
City Health Services Office (CHSO) records showed that the first death occurred in February while the rest happened only last June when the cases began to increase and last July when the cases peaked.
Four fatalities were children – a 6-year-old female from Asin Road, a nine-year-old male from Irisan, a one-year-old male from Country Club admitted on June 28 and a four-year-old female from Nueva Vizcaya admitted on July 8.
Others were a 63-year-old male from Loakan Proper admitted on Feb. 28 whose death was ruled as dengue-related; a 59-year-old male from Cabinet Hill-Teachers’ Camp admitted on June 18 and a 38-year-old female from Dominican-Mirador Hill admitted on July 12, 2024.
According to the City Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (CESU) of the CHSO, a total of 3,011 cases were reported in the city from January 1 to August 2, 2024 which is a 462 percent increase from last year’s figure.
The median age of the patients is 23 years old and the most affected age group are the 11 to 20 years old. Fifty one percent of the patients were female.
The most affected barangays are Irisan, Bakakeng Central, Asin Road, Sto. Tomas Proper, Camp 7, Gibraltar, Pinget, Loakan Proper, Pacdal, Middle Quirino Hill and Bakakeng Norte.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong as early as April called for the implementation of anti-dengue measures to pre-empt the proliferation of cases which normally happens from June to October.
Last June, the mayor ordered the intensified implementation of the anti-dengue ordinance (Ordinance 66-2016) including the imposition of penalties against those who do not follow the dengue control measures.
This after medical officers and sanitation inspectors at the helm of the dengue control measures in the barangays observed that although residents are fully aware of the prevention activities, many households are still not cooperating in the implementation of the same.
The mayor ordered the involvement of the Baguio City Police Office personnel and the Public Order and Safety Division in the conduct of information dissemination, case surveillance and geo-tagging operations in the barangays as augmentation to the sanitation division personnel.
The ordinance prohibits the following: storing water in containers not tightly covered, keeping and storing water filled vases and using ornamental plants with pot saucer and axilled plants for a long period, keeping or having discarded tires, discharging wastewater or sewage unto streets, roads, alleys and pathways and conducting chemical control methods without clearance from the CHSO and the Dept. of Health.
“Any uncooperative owner, group of persons or public or private entity can be summoned to appear before the punong barangay to explain at reasonable cause why no legal action should be taken upon the violator,” the ordinance reads.
Violators are liable for the following penalties: first offense – render community service for three days at the barangay, second offense — fine of P1,000 and conduct of community service for three days and third offense — P3,000 and imprisonment of two days at the discretion of the court.
The CHSO has sustained the dengue preventive measures. Aside from strengthening case surveillance, the CHSO is also implementing 5S anti-dengue public awareness campaign and clean-up drives through the “Denguerra – War against Dengue” program, an intensified campaign to mobilize barangays to conduct massive and simultaneous search and destroy operations every Thursday to weed out mosquito breeding sites as well as other interventions to stop the reproduction of dengue-carrying mosquitoes and the use of larvicides in critical barangays.
To catch all cases, the city also launched an online system of reporting cases to boost surveillance and capture all cases as part of the CHSO’s newly developed monitoring system which, according to Panes, integrates data gathering from health laboratories and citizen self-reporting. Cases may be reported through his link: https://forms.gle/wjoXFyTm6Mw2hrLZ6. **Aileen P. Refuerzo
