DOH finally makes declaration: 'Dengue outbreak' in three barangays

CEBU, Philippines – Three barangays in Cebu are among six that have been declared by the Department of Health to be experiencing an outbreak of dengue cases in Central Visayas.

The three are Guadalupe, Labangon and Tisa all in the South District.

The three other barangays that the DOH said is also experiencing a dengue outbreak are Cogon and Laong in Tagbilaran City, Bohol and Daro in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental.

DOH- Regional Director Dr. Susana Madarietta said there is a need to declare a dengue outbreak in these barangays because the cases are more than 10 percent above the epidemic threshold.

Madarietta said that they based the declaration on the rise of dengue cases last week compared with dengue statistics from the same period in the last five years.

"We have already communicated to local health authorities to remind them about the declaration of the outbreak", Madarietta told The FREEMAN.

Guadalupe Barangay Captain Eugenio Faelnar said that he was alarmed about the inclusion of his barangay among those suffering from a dengue outbreak.

"Naalarma lang ta ana kay makamatay baya nang dengue", said Faelnar in a phone interview.

Faelnar said that there were 181 dengue cases in his barangay.

He is calling his constituents to cooperate in preventing dengue.

In Labangon, barangay captain Felix Abella said that it's not a surprise that his barangay is in the list.

Abella said that Labangon ranked number two for three consecutive years already.

He cited that there will be a house to house activity on October 2 as one of the measures of the City Health Department in the fight against dengue.

The house to house campaign started in Guadalupe and in Tisa last week.

This is initiated by City Health Area Medical Officer Dr. Alma Corpin together with 15 groups aimed to personally inform the households about dengue.

Madarietta said that Central Visayas has a total of 8,708 cases with 63 deaths.

This is 46.4 percent higher compared to the same period of last year which had only 4,921 cases with 63 deaths.

In Cebu City, there were 2,369 cases with 16 deaths as of September 25 compared to last year's 664 cases with 64 deaths.

Cebu City tops the region in terms of dengue cases.

Tagbilaran City is ranked second followed by Dumaguete City on the third spot.

Lapu-Lapu City and Toledo City are the fourth and fifth place respectively.

Madarietta advised the leaders of the three barangays in Cebu City to do more search and destroy operations for the mosquitoes carrying the disease.

On the other hand, Dr. Berna Ysulan of the Department of Education said that a memorandum was issued to remind all teaching personnel to conduct massive information to the pupils and students about dengue.

Ysulan stressed that DepEd has a program called PASS or Preventive Alert Surveillance System. - /NLQ (FREEMAN)