Activities for Denguerra (War on Dengue) still go on in the barangays to further decrease the mosquito-borne disease and control its spread.
This is according to Health Services Office – City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (HSO-CESU) head Dr. Donnabel Tubera-Panes in a media forum at city hall last Wednesday.
The breeding places of female mosquitoes Aegis aegypti or A. albopictus female should be dried up or destroyed, Panes warned. Containers should be brushed up or cleaned as stuck-up mosquito eggs may still survive after a clean-up due to intermittent rains.
A couple of mosquitoes may produce 80 to 100 eggs, and with a lifespan of 4 weeks, may cause an increase in cases. Panes however mentioned human blood is needed for the female mosquito to produce eggs, thus the search for warm bodies and bites at certain times of the day.
This year’s Dengue cases is 987 compared to more than 3,000 cases for the same period last year. There is a decrease of 67%, she added; due to external factors such as climate change, thus the change in the 3-4 year cyclic pattern; and the rainy season.
Some barangays are still on the list for clusters as they have 3 or more cases, Panes said.
Massive Information and Education Campaign (IEC) should still be done, Panes laments, as she looks back on the 2 deaths this year due to Dengue. It should have been preventable, she said.
She however reiterated that Denguerra still goes on. The barangay activity, volunteer and LGU-supported move was conceptualized some time ago, with Mayor Benjamin Magalong’s directive for activities in the grassroots to control the spread of Dengue. ** JGF, with reports from HSO-CESU
