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DOH steps up anti-dengue measures as 1st death reported in NegOr

By Mary Judaline Partlow

April 8, 2022, 6:46 pm

DUMAGUETE CITY – The Department of Health (DOH) in Negros Oriental has urged the local government units (LGU) to step up their activities against dengue as the province reported its first death after two years.

Jennifer Remollo, the DOH provincial officer for Negros Oriental, told the Philippine News Agency on Friday that she has instructed the LGUs to start their anti-dengue campaigns this summer, especially now that the quarantine restrictions in relation to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic have eased up.

“We are alarming the LGUs now that people are starting to get out of their homes to continue with their entomological surveys and conduct house-to-house information drives on dengue prevention,” Remollo said in mixed English and Cebuano.

From January 1 to April 2, this year, the DOH-Negros Oriental reported a total of 146 dengue cases with one death, which is 40 percent lower compared to the same period of last year with 245 cases and zero deaths.

The top LGUs with dengue cases as of the latest reporting are Dumaguete City with 18; Bais City, 17; Guihulngan City, 16; Canlaon City, 11; Sibulan, 10; while the rest had less than 10 or zero cases.

Negros Oriental did not have a single mortality due to dengue for two consecutive years (2020 and 2021), which Dr. Socrates Villamor, the DOH-Negros Oriental provincial chief, said was owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, which prevented huge crowds and gatherings.

Remollo said the first dengue death for this year was a patient from Bayawan City who was also diagnosed with typhoid fever.

She appealed to the people to observe basic health protocols not just for Covid-19 but to also undertake dengue preventive measures, such as cleaning of their surroundings to eradicate the natural habitats of mosquitos.

The Aedes Aegypti mosquito is the dengue vector that transmits the virus between humans and is endemic to Negros Oriental. (PNA) 

 

 

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