Rama worries on protracted dengue threat in the city

With the continuing rain daily, Vice Mayor Michael Rama and the City Council yesterday expressed concern over the possibility that the dengue threat may continue to loom over the city, which may remain under a state of calamity, throughout the year.

“It seems dengue is whole year round. We should not be taking things lightly,” Rama told the members of the council during its regular session. He cited  a woman, who went to his office for assistance because her child had recently died of dengue.

The councilors also shared the concern of the vice mayor. Councilor Rodrigo Abellanosa said that if the rains continue then it will only make the dengue threat worse.

 The city’s Anti-Dengue Task Force, headed by councilor Gerardo Carillo, also delivered to the session its yearend report, which stated that in 2007, dengue left 51 people dead and downed 2,107 others who were treated in hospitals in the city. 

The data is still partial, Carillo said, adding that the City Health Department had recorded, from December 10 to the end of that month, 187 more dengue cases with five deaths.

The task force also reported that 73 out of the 80 barangays of the city have been affected by dengue.

Labangon topped the list with 118 dengue cases and six deaths, followed by Lahug with 105 cases with one death, Talamban with 90 cases with two deaths, Tisa with 85 cases with two deaths, and Pardo with 83 cases with three deaths.

The report also gave a yearly data of dengue cases, starting in 2003 when there were a total of 2,108 dengue cases with 20 deaths. The number dropped in 2004 with 937 cases and seven deaths; rose again in 2005 with 1,621 cases and 32 deaths, only to decrease in 2006 with 953 cases with 27 deaths.

Based on this up-down trend, Carillo, as action officer of the Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council, concluded that dengue cases might have something to do with the rainfall. “The more rainfall, the more number of dengue cases,” he added.

As such, Carillo said that one best solution to the problem is proper drainage to avoid rainwater from becoming breeding sites of dengue-causing mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti.

Carillo said the task force is now actively campaigning and eliminating pools of stagnant waters that may become breeding sites of mosquitoes.

The Coastal Management Board, headed by Vice Mayor Rama, is also intensifying its clean-up drive in the barangays, while the Mayor’s Management Team has been doing geographical mapping of dengue cases.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña has intended to use the mapping of cases as guides for barangay officials in taking action against the spread of the disease.

Meanwhile, the Cebu City Medical Center and the City Health Department, through the barangay health centers, have been providing free check-up and testing on patients suspected to be infected with the dengue virus.

The city government last October 5 put the city under a state of calamity due to dengue. — Wenna A. Berondo/RAE