DOH warns vs indiscriminate fogging

MANILA, Philippines - Indiscriminate fumigation is not an effective method to combat dengue-carrying mosquitoes, the Department of Health said yesterday.

“We are not saying that fogging is prohibited. What we are saying is that it should be done only when there is an outbreak or if an area is a hotspot for dengue,” said Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, DOH dengue control and prevention program manager.

Lee Suy said fogging requires timing to make sure that more mosquitoes are eliminated.  

“It should be done two hours after sunrise and two hours before sunset because these are the peak biting time of mosquitoes,” he said. “It should not be done if there is rain or if the wind is strong because you will not be able to target the mosquitoes.”

He said indiscriminate fogging might cause mosquitoes to develop resistance to insecticide.

From Jan. 1 to Aug. 6, the DOH has recorded 45,333 dengue cases nationwide, but this is 33.5 percent lower compared to the 68,168 cases during the same period last year. Death tolls are 569 and 267 in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

To effectively kill the mosquitoes and the larvae, four cycles of fumigation should be done in the same area for four consecutive weeks. Lee Suy said the most effective way to curb the spread of dengue is to search for breeding sites of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and then destroy them.

He added that doing routine fogging is not advisable because this would only make the community complacent.

In Quezon City, Mayor Herbert Bautista said the city government will use P50,000 to provide 30 folding beds and 10 electric fans for patients at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center (QMMC).

A six-year-old girl died of dengue at the hospital Wednesday night, but QMMC officials refused to identify her. The girl, said to be from Cainta, Rizal, reportedly had fever for three days before she was brought to the hospital.

City health officer Dr. Antonieta Inumerable said the city government has ordered preventive fogging and express lanes set up in four barangays with the highest number of dengue cases reported this year: Bagbag, San Bartolome, Commonwealth and Batasan Hills.

Meanwhile, the Valenzuela City government appealed to residents to regularly clean their surroundings and use larvae traps to rid their area of dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

From Jan. 1 to Aug. 13 this year, the city health office recorded 799 dengue cases compared to 634 cases during the same period last year. – Sheila Crisostomo, Rhodina Villanueva, Pete Laude