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Iloilo City records clustering of dengue cases, hotspot area

By Perla Lena

February 3, 2023, 1:03 pm

<p><strong>DISEASE SURVEILLANCE</strong>. Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna, assistant city health officer, on Friday (Feb. 3, 2023) says six barangays in Iloilo City are under monitoring due to the clustering of dengue cases. He said the areas are being prioritized for vector surveillance. <em>(PNA photo by PGLena)</em></p>

DISEASE SURVEILLANCE. Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna, assistant city health officer, on Friday (Feb. 3, 2023) says six barangays in Iloilo City are under monitoring due to the clustering of dengue cases. He said the areas are being prioritized for vector surveillance. (PNA photo by PGLena)

ILOILO CITY – The city health office here is monitoring five barangays in Lapuz district where a clustering of dengue cases has been recorded while a village in Arevalo district has been identified as a hotspot area.

There is a clustering of cases when a village has three or more cases in four consecutive weeks while a hotspot has an increasing or clustering of cases in four weeks and one or more deaths.

Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna, assistant city health officer, on Friday identified barangays Bo. Obrero with seven cases, Sinikway and Don Esteban with four cases each and Rizal Sur and Mansaya with three cases each to have clustering of cases in Lapuz district.

Meanwhile, the village of So-oc in Arevalo district is tagged as a hotspot area with three cases and one fatality.

“We are checking on the area to determine if there are stagnant waters. We continue with our misting, hopefully it will be continuous since it is not effective when it rains,” he said in a media interview.

From Jan. 1 until Feb. 2, the city has 48 cases; 12 active, 29 already recovered, and two deaths.

Fortuna called the two deaths as early as January "alarming". He identified the fatalities as a 15- year old male from So-oc and a 28-year-old male from Calahunan, Mandurriao.

He reminded the public not to ignore the early signs and symptoms of the disease and immediately seek consultation as part of the 4S strategy which includes seeking and destroying breeding places, self-protection, and support fogging during an outbreak.

The 28-year-old victim, he said, experienced a fever on Jan. 22, sought consultation on the following day due to general weakness and died due to complications two days after.

“The earlier we consult, the earlier we get hydrated and provided with medicine, the faster the recovery,” he said.

Apart from dengue, the city health office also monitors the increasing cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), now at 139 as of Feb. 2.

Of the cases, 95 have recovered, 40 are active and four are new cases.

Fortuna said that they are sending the specimen to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine for a confirmatory test but clinically they are already HFMD just by looking at the symptoms and distribution of rashes.

“This is common among age group 10 years old and below. With our case, majority of our cases are 1 to 10 year old with 118 cases,” he said.

Fortuna said they are looking at the opening of face-to-face classes and day-care centers as among the factors for the spread of the disease.

Parents, he added, are advised not to send their children to school and have them isolated if they have symptoms such as slight fever, body malaise, sore throat and lesions.

“We are into massive information dissemination. Our health workers are conducting health education not just on dengue but also HFMD,” he said. (PNA)



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