SoCot residents warned vs. 4 dengue strains

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- South Cotabato's Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) warned residents on Friday about the presence of four strains or serotypes of the deadly dengue fever in the province.

Dr. Alah Baby Vingno, IPHO assistant chief, said they have recorded infections by all four dengue serotypes in the province based on cases confirmed by the Department of Health (DOH).

The DOH initially found cases involving the four dengue strains in the area during an outbreak in 2016.

The provincial government declared a state of calamity late last week due to the rising cases of dengue, which was already above the epidemic threshold – meaning that it has reached the outbreak level last May.  

Vingno said their monitoring showed that most of the current dengue cases in the province’s 10 towns and lone city are under serotype 1.

“But since all four strains are already here, there is a possibility that a person will be infected with dengue four times,” she said in an interview with reporters.

Vingno said the province lacks the equipment that will determine the strain of the dengue virus, and samples are sent to the DOH in Manila for the confirmatory tests.

As of July 22, the reported dengue cases in the province already reached a total of 3,664, with 21 deaths.

Koronadal City posted the most number of cases with 703, followed by Surallah (478); Tantangan (468), Banga (391), Tupi (347), Norala (307), Polomolok (276), Tampakan (219), Tboli (192), Sto. Niño (174), and Lake Sebu (109).

Dr. Rogelio Aturdido Jr., IPHO chief, said among the major reasons cited by experts for the sudden surge in dengue cases this year was climate change.

“The unexpected temperature is a chance for mosquito eggs to hatch in a shorter period and eventually causing more vectors to trigger outbreaks,” he said.

Aturdido urged residents to immediately inform the barangay health workers and officials if they have even a single case of dengue in their neighborhood.

At least 91 of the province’s 199 barangays have posted clustering of dengue cases and 18 were classified as hotspots.

The DOH’s epidemiology bureau defined clustering of dengue as three or more cases in a barangay for four consecutive weeks. (PNA)