'Declare state of calamity due to rising dengue cases'

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Gov. Mark Lapid asked the provincial board yesterday to declare a state of calamity in the province amid what a Department of Health (DOH) official has described as an "alarming" increase in the number of dengue cases in the 21 municipalities.

Lapid said he expects the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to act on his proposal by Monday.

Dr. Rio Magpantay, the DOH’s chief epidemiologist in Central Luzon, described as "alarming" the 338 dengue cases so far reported in Pampanga, including three deaths in Guagua, Porac and this city.

According to the DOH, reports of more dengue have been coming in from various parts of the province.

Hardest-hit by the mosquito-borne viral ailment were Angeles City with 94 cases, City of San Fernando with 51, Mabalacat with 40, Magalang with 28, Arayat with 27, Minalin with 22, Guagua with 18, Mexico with 12, and Floridablanca with 10, the DOH said.

Lapid said placing the province under a state of calamity would enable the provincial government to spend calamity funds for fogging operations and other measures against the ailment.

Nine people, according to the DOH, have died of dengue in Central Luzon this year, compared to only three last year.

The number of dengue cases is expected to rise in the coming months due to the rainy season which creates breeding grounds for mosquitoes, the DOH said.

So far, Magpantay said the number of dengue cases in Central Luzon is already 31 percent higher compared to the same period last year.

Of the nine deaths, four were in Nueva Ecija, three in Pampanga and one each in Bulacan and Zambales.

The DOH said 335 dengue cases were reported in Nueva Ecija, 260 in Bulacan, 36 in Bataan, 175 in Zambales, 110 in Tarlac, and eight in Aurora.

"It seems that there were some shortcomings in the information campaign against dengue in the affected towns," Magpantay said.

Marilou Pajarillaga, the DOH’s chief dengue surveillance officer in Central Luzon, warned that dengue is expected to even peak further this rainy season.

"We have launched ‘search and destroy’ operations against the breeding places of mosquitoes which carry the dengue virus," she said.

Dr. Ernesto Santos, Pampanga health officer, has called for an emergency meeting of public health workers to assess the dengue situation in the province and to boost efforts to curb its spread.

Santos said the provincial health office has its own dengue monitoring team but the number of cases they have so far recorded was lesser than the DOH’s figure.

He attributed the difference to the province’s limited access to private hospitals and clinics outside Pampanga where other victims could have been brought.

Santos said the public health officers are conducting a massive campaign and stricter monitoring with the help of municipal health officers.

He said all 10 district hospitals in Pampanga have competent doctors who can diagnose dengue symptoms.

Meanwhile, Rafael Otic, provincial environment and natural resources officer of Nueva Ecija, blamed illegal logging for the dengue outbreak in General Tinio, Nueva Ecija.

Otic said the wanton cutting of trees within and around General Tinio over the years resulted in the loss of wildlife species that preyed on mosquitoes and might have even provided breeding grounds for dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

Otic noted the presence of rotting felled trees with pools of stagnant water — where these mosquitoes might breed — in the outskirts of General Tinio.

Most of the felled trees cascaded down from the mountains when flash floods hit the town and parts of Aurora and Quezon last November. — With Katherine Adraneda