State of calamity declared in Tampakan due to chikungunya outbreak
As of Wednesday, the municipal health office reported that the number of chikungunya cases in the area has reached 306.
The affected areas were barangays Poblacion, Maltana and Kipalbig, where the initial cases of chikungunya were detected in the first week of June.
According to the World Health Organization’s Media Cenre, Chikungunya is a viral disease that is spread by mosquitoes and causes fever and severe joint pain. Other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash.
The disease, the WHO said, “shares some clinical signs with dengue, and can be misdiagnosed in areas where dengue is common.||| |||buy suhagra online with |||
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It added that there is “no cure for the disease. Treatment is focused on relieving the symptoms.||| |||buy flexeril online with |||
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“The proximity of mosquito breeding sites to human habitation is a significant risk factor for chikungunya,” it said.
Dr. Washington Loreno, Tampakan health officer, said they are presently monitoring several other areas for possible cases.
“Our consultations and treatment for the disease are ongoing. In fact, we have detected new cases yesterday,” he said.
Aside from Tampakan, two cases of chikungunya were confirmed last Monday by local health personnel in Barangay Crossing Rubber in Tupi town.
The Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) of South Cotabato said 36 chikungunya cases were also recorded in Barangay San Roque in Koronadal City.
Barangay Crossing Rubber in Tupi town is among the closest villages to Tampakan while parts of Barangay San Roque in Koronadal City host banana plantations of the Tampakan-based Global Fruits Corporation (GFC) and Lapanday Diversified Products.
The IPHO earlier pointed to the area’s banana plantations as the possible breeding places of mosquitoes that carry the chikungunya virus.
Cecil Lorenzo, IPHO disease surveillance officer, earlier said four of the initial six persons suspected to have been suffering from chikungunya were employees at a banana plantation in Barangay Kipalbig.
She said the two chikungunya cases in Barangay Kipalbig were affirmed based on the results of confirmatory tests conducted by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City.
“We’re now focused on the treatment of the patients. We no longer need to submit blood tests to the RITM because the area is already infected with the disease based on the initial tests,” she said.
Roca said the local government will launch massive cleanup and fogging operations on Thursday in areas affected by the chikungunya outbreak.
The cleanup drive, which was personally pushed by Tampakan Mayor Leonardo Escobillo, will focus on the suspected breeding places of chikungunya-carrying mosquitoes within the area’s banana plantations.
The IPHO, through its technical office, already provided 200 sachets of larvicide, a chemical used to kill larval pests like mosquitoes’ larvae or “kiti-kiti.”
Tampakan town is the base of the Tampakan copper-gold project of the Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)
