Recommends clean-up drives; DOH frowns on fogging

The Department of Health does not recommend the use of fogging as the primary solution to destroy the possible breeding sites of mosquitoes, a health official said.

DOH Regional Director Susana Madarieta yesterday said fogging is not the ultimate solution to the worsening dengue problem in the region, saying that it does not guarantee that it will eliminate mosquitoes, especially its eggs.

"This will only kill adult mosquitoes but not its eggs and the larvae and fogging is not environmentally friendly," Madarieta said.

To prevent more cases, she recommended local governments to organize and sustain community clean-up campaigns.

The public is also urged to empty bottles, old tires, roof gutters, tin cans, or any receptacle where water can be collected or stored.

Dengue fever is a disease caused by a bite of an infected day-biting female Aedes Aegypti mosquito. Its symptoms include sudden onset of fever, headache, vomiting, abdominal pain, gum bleeding, nose bleeding, and bloody stools.

Dengue fever is the most significant mosquito-borne viral disease of humans transmitted by a bite of an infected day-biting female Aedes aegypti that breed in clean, stagnant water. The disease begins with sudden onset of high fever and headache accompanied by anorexia, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Dengue hemorrhagic fever, on the other hand, occurs when the blood-clotting function of the body becomes affected. It may present with rashes, nosebleed, gumbleeding, and other forms of internal bleeding. - Jasmin R. Uy