Snowy Owl
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Valenzuela City hit by dengue epidemic
http://newsinfo.inq7.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view_article.php?article_id=23065
http://newsinfo.inq7.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view_article.php?article_id=23065
Health execs report 78% hike in cases
By DJ Yap
Inquirer
Last updated 03:45am (Mla time) 09/26/2006
Published on Page A17 of the September 26, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
DENGUE cases in Valenzuela City have already reached epidemic proportions this year despite an intensive sanitation campaign to combat the mosquito-borne disease, city officials said yesterday.
From Jan. 1 to Sept. 23, the number of dengue cases in the city has gone up by 78 percent compared to last year, according to a report of the city?s epidemiology and surveillance unit.
Valenzuela epidemiologist Manuel Mapue said in a report that as of Sept. 23 this year, they have recorded 722 dengue cases, with nine deaths.
In contrast, only 311 cases were reported during the same period in 2005, and 405 cases for the entire year, city information officer Marither Menia added.
?We already went past the dengue epidemic threshold level,? Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian said.
Based on computations done by the city health department, dengue incidence in Valenzuela City has already surpassed the epidemic threshold, a figure based on increases in dengue cases over a period of five years, Menia said.
Dengue hot spots
Just last week, 27 new cases were monitored, Mapue said in his report. More than half of the cases came from District 2, particularly Barangays Gen. T. de Leon, Karuhatan and Marulas.
The same report revealed that the ages of those who came down with the disease ranged from 4 months to 59 years old.
The most affected age group, however, was the five to 14-year-olds, which accounted for half of the cases. More than half, or 53 percent, were males.
City officials, meanwhile, expressed alarm over the apparent futility of their efforts to prevent a dengue epidemic. ?We have done everything to keep dengue-causing mosquitoes at bay,? Gatchalian said.
?We cleaned houses, conducted fogging operations, and even formed teams to dispose of old tires and containers that could be breeding grounds for mosquitoes,? he added.
The mayor said the residents could be blamed themselves for their insufficient ?follow-through??failing to keep their surroundings clean and destroying possible mosquito breeding grounds.
Gatchalian urged city residents to ?religiously employ simple measures? to ward off mosquitoes, like making their children wear long pants to school.
By DJ Yap
Inquirer
Last updated 03:45am (Mla time) 09/26/2006
Published on Page A17 of the September 26, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
DENGUE cases in Valenzuela City have already reached epidemic proportions this year despite an intensive sanitation campaign to combat the mosquito-borne disease, city officials said yesterday.
From Jan. 1 to Sept. 23, the number of dengue cases in the city has gone up by 78 percent compared to last year, according to a report of the city?s epidemiology and surveillance unit.
Valenzuela epidemiologist Manuel Mapue said in a report that as of Sept. 23 this year, they have recorded 722 dengue cases, with nine deaths.
In contrast, only 311 cases were reported during the same period in 2005, and 405 cases for the entire year, city information officer Marither Menia added.
?We already went past the dengue epidemic threshold level,? Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian said.
Based on computations done by the city health department, dengue incidence in Valenzuela City has already surpassed the epidemic threshold, a figure based on increases in dengue cases over a period of five years, Menia said.
Dengue hot spots
Just last week, 27 new cases were monitored, Mapue said in his report. More than half of the cases came from District 2, particularly Barangays Gen. T. de Leon, Karuhatan and Marulas.
The same report revealed that the ages of those who came down with the disease ranged from 4 months to 59 years old.
The most affected age group, however, was the five to 14-year-olds, which accounted for half of the cases. More than half, or 53 percent, were males.
City officials, meanwhile, expressed alarm over the apparent futility of their efforts to prevent a dengue epidemic. ?We have done everything to keep dengue-causing mosquitoes at bay,? Gatchalian said.
?We cleaned houses, conducted fogging operations, and even formed teams to dispose of old tires and containers that could be breeding grounds for mosquitoes,? he added.
The mayor said the residents could be blamed themselves for their insufficient ?follow-through??failing to keep their surroundings clean and destroying possible mosquito breeding grounds.
Gatchalian urged city residents to ?religiously employ simple measures? to ward off mosquitoes, like making their children wear long pants to school.