Dengue alarm on in Baguio City

BAGUIO CITY , Philippines — Public health experts sounded a dengue fever alarm in this city this week as they noted cases spiking to an “alarming level.”

The City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the Baguio City Health Services Office (CHSO) noted a 134-percent increase, with 940 cases recorded from Jan. 1 to June 28, as compared to last year’s 401 cases during the same period.

Seventy-one percent of the total cases were from the city while the rest were from other localities.

The CHSO also noted a 376-percent increase in cases for weeks 21 to 24, or from 75 cases in 2023 to 376 this year.

The 10 hotspot barangays with clustering of cases are Irisan, Bakakeng Central, Asin Road, Pacdal, Sto. Tomas Proper, Gibraltar, West Quirino Hill, Mines View Park, Middle Quirino Hill and Victoria Village.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong called for an intensified implementation of the anti-dengue ordinance after CHSO medical officers and sanitation inspectors observed that many barangay residents are not cooperating in the effort to control the spread of dengue.

Baguio City’s Ordinance 66-2016 prohibits the storing of 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 to streets, roads, alleys and pathways; and conducting chemical control methods without clearance from the CHSO and the Department of Health. 

Magalong ordered the Baguio City Police Office and the Public Order and Safety Division to help the sanitation division personnel in conducting information dissemination, case surveillance and geo-tagging operations in the barangays.

“It seems that the gravity of the situation has not fully sunk into the consciousness of many people so that they continue to be uncooperative and refuse to take action to remove the risk factors,” medical officer Nelson Hora said.