Two more kids die of dengue

CEBU, Philippines - Two more children died of dengue fever at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center last Friday, bringing the number of dengue deaths for this month to seven.

Nonoy Mongaya, VSMMC information officer, said that a three-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl died at the hospital, a few hours after they were admitted.

The boy was brought there from Barangay Botong, Dalaguete, while the girl from San Remigio town.Both died due to dengue shock syndrome.

The five previous fatalities came from the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue and the towns of Badian and Sibonga.

Mongaya said that based on their daily dengue monitoring as of September 10, 2010, VSMMC’s Pediatrics Dengue Admission was 39 while 26 were discharged.There were a total of 11 adults also admitted.

Earlier, the Department of the Interior and Local Government issued a directive to all provincial governors, city and municipal mayors, and barangay captains for an intensified information and education campaign on dengue fever and appropriate preventive and control measures.

The DOH disclosed that the number of dengue cases nationwide from January to August 28 now totals 69,594.

For Central Visayas, DOH regional office recorded more than 3,000 dengue cases and that majority of those who were infected with dengue were children aged six to nine years old.

DOH-7 regional director Susana Madarieta had likewise emphasized that it needs community effort to prevent the spread of dengue and follow the “Four S”, which stands for “search and destroy”, “seek early treatment”, “self-protective measure” and “say no to indiscriminate fogging”.

DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo in a statement said that local executives should enforce environmental sanitation such as dredging of clogged canals, esteros and other waterways; pruning thick bushes or tree branches; and removal or draining of receptacles containing stagnant water.

Some of the symptoms of dengue are sudden onset of high fever which may last from two to 7 days, joint and muscle pains including pain behind the eyes, weakness, skin rashes, bleeding from the nose, abdominal pain, vomiting of coffee-colored matter and having dark-colored stools.

There are currently no vaccines for dengue.

DOH secretary Enrique Ona reminded the public that dengue, although an all-year round disease, is more common during rainy days when there are more potential breeding sites for the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

He also called on all local government officials to remain vigilant and make sure that that their health centers and hospitals are also ready to manage consultations for dengue and other diseases that occur during the rainy season such as influenza, bronchitis, diarrheas and leptospirosis.

Meanwhile, Smart Communications Inc. and the Philippine Red Cross have joined hands in combating dengue which already downed 69,594 individuals so far this year, 501 of whom have died.

Smart and PRC have embarked on clean-up drives to search and destroy all possible breeding sites of mosquitoes.

Aside from the clean-up activities, the two agencies have also been conducting blood donation campaigns to ensure adequate supply of blood for dengue patients.

Patients with severe dengue usually need blood transfusion as the virus causes their platelet levels to drop significantly.

Some 1,730 individuals, including Smart employees, students and faculty members from the telecommunication firm’s partner schools, professionals and civilians, have participated in a series of blood donation activities conducted from July to August.

The blood-letting was held in Metro Manila and provinces of Bulacan, Ilocos Sur, Baguio, Ilocos Norte, Iloilo, Cebu, Bohol, Iloilo, Bacolod, Dumaguete, General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Koronadal, Cotabato and Dipolog.

About 1,053 individuals qualified as blood donors while the others were deferred due to various health reasons, including low iron and alcohol intake 24 hours before the donation.

Smart conducts nationwide blood-letting activities every July in support of the National Disaster Consciousness month and in November as part of the Kabalikat sa Kaligtasan, the firm’s corporate social responsibility and community service program on disaster-preparedness and emergency response.— with /BRP (THE FREEMAN)