Schools urged to suspend classes during "fogging"

CEBU - Cebu City health officials have strongly warned the teachers and the students of public schools not to use their classrooms right after the health personnel sprayed them with chemicals to kill the dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

“We will now insist to the school officials that no classes should be conducted when mist-spraying will be done in schools. That students should not be around when these measures are implemented,” city health officer Fe Cabugao told Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

Cabugao had sent a letter to Osmeña explaining why the two students of the Zapatera Night High School have experienced hypersensitive reactions as a result of the mist-spraying that the health personnel had conducted in the school on Saturday last week.

She, however, described the incident as an isolated case because the city health personnel had already conducted mist-spraying on almost all schools in the city and such unfortunate incident only happened in Zapatera Night High School.

The students are originally for night class, but on Saturdays they are required to report to their class during daytime.

Cabugao said the students were sent outside and were instructed to stay in the school ground while the health personnel were conducting the mist-spraying.

But about an hour later, two of the students complained that they experienced hypersensitive and allergic reactions due to fumes from the chemicals that prompted their classmates to bring them to Cebu City Medical Center.

Although the components of the chemicals used by the department are not toxic to the people and the environment, some would manifest allergic reactions to the fumes, Cabugao explained.

The allergic reactions include headache, dyspnea and vomitting, but Cabugao said it will just last for a few hours.

Despite the incident in Zapatera, Osmeña still allowed the health personnel to conduct more mist-spraying in other public schools as one way to control dengue.

The mist-spraying operations are scheduled to be conducted today at Guadalupe and Kalunasan Elementary Schools and at Pit-os and Cambinocot Elementary Schools on next Saturday.

Osmeña said the city’s strategy against dengue is very effective because the number of cases had significantly gone down to 64 cases last month compared to 375 in August last year.

Aside from personally warning the people against the dengue menace, Osmeña is still keen on pursuing his plan to have a TV advertisement to get the attention of the public that they should be concerned about dengue.

The City Health Department recently reported that dengue has already claimed the lives of 38 people and hospitalized close to 1,000 others. — Rene U. Borromeo/WAB (THE FREEMAN)