Cases rising- 8 dead, 1,169 afflicted in Ilocos Sur: Dengue clustering set in central, northern Luzon

By Freddie Lazaro and Jennelyn Mondejar

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Dengue cases have risen drastically in central and Northern Luzon alarming Department of Health officials to cluster several barangays including those in this town to stop the disease.

In a report, the DOH-National Epidemiology Center said “three or more” dengue cases were monitored to be clustering in these barangays for the past four weeks.

Tagged as dengue “hotspots” were Vacunero in Sto. Domingo, Ilocos Sur; Nibaliw, Mabini in Pangasinan and Lubas and Pico in La Trinidad, Benguet.

The report showed that from Jan. 1 to July 23, a total of 38,876 dengue cases had been recorded nationwide.

The figure is 25.85 percent lower than the 52,428 cases during the same period last year, but DOH authorities said this was still high.

In Ilocos Sur, the Provincial Health Team Office had already recorded at least 1,169 dengue cases with eight deaths as of Wednesday.

The eight dengue deaths were recorded in Santo Domingo – 1 fatality; Cabugao – 3; Santa Lucia – 2; Santa Cruz – 1; and Narvacan – 1,

Based on records from the PHTO – Ilocos Sur; the top ten towns having the large number of dengue cases as of August 3, were the following: Santo Domingo – 195 dengue cases; Cabugao – 149; San Juan – 99; Vigan City – 90; Santa Lucia – 78; Bantay – 69; Tagudin – 66; Magsingal – 51; and Candon City – 51 cases.

In Vigan City, provincial officials declared Ilocos Sur under a state of calamity due to alarming increase in dengue cases, Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis ChavitSingson said Thursday.

Singson said he signed the resolution by the provincial board who unanimously declared the province under state of calamity due to rapid increase in dengue cases.

“We immediately came out for the formal declaration of the Ilocos Sur province as under state of calamity after we received reports regarding the increased number of dengue cases have caused alarmed on the danger that it brings to our constituents,” Singson said of Resolution No. 113 series of 2011, dated August 1, 2011.

“Due to the very alarming effects that this dreaded dengue disease had brought to the communities, there’s a need to declare the province in a state of calamity to allow the calamity funds for use in the massive eradication of the dengue carrier virus,” Singson added.

Provincial dengue operation’s officer Rogelio Varilla said, “dengue cases will be expected to increase from time to time as we are expecting more reports from the different local government units in the province while we are intensifying the monitoring of dengue cases.”

The provincial board noted in their resolution that the outbreak of dengue disease in the province had “tremendously increased by 300% as compared with the 2010 cases in Ilocos Sur, despite the preventive measure being under taken.”

To control the spread of the dengue disease, the provincial board initiated control activities, information campaign and the promotion of 4S Contra Dengue – such as seek and destroy breeding places; self – protection by wearing long sleeves and pants in going to places infested with mosquitoes; to seek early consultation with fever of two days and other emergency measures have also been extensively made by the government and its health workers to prevent the spread of mosquitoes carrying dengue in the communities.

In Kalinga, health authorities raised dengue alert in this province, following upsurge in cases of the mosquito-borne disease this month because of continuous rains that developed abundant sources of clear and stagnant water that serve as the breeding ground of dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

Based on the report of the Provincial Epidemics and Surveillance Unit, dengue suspect-cases in Kalinga shot-up to 90 in July with one case of death – a case that was registered in a hospital in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.

Based on the PESU monitoring report, the morbidity week or the time the cases started to rise was in the last week of June with 26 suspect-cases recorded.

PESU Officer Jose Pardito Jr. attributed the July upsurge to the rains when breeding places of mosquitoes also start to develop.

The PESU immediately urged barangay officials in Tabuk and Pinukpuk, where the cases mostly come, to conduct preventive measures by cleaning their surroundings to remove the containers of clear and stagnant water.

But despite this, the DOH warned the public against being complacent with dengue because of the rainy season when clean and stagnant water is abundant.