The dengue-carrying Aedes egypti mosquito, so full. With my blood? MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERA
DAVAO CITY (Mindanews/November 24) – The Tagum City Council on Tuesday passed a resolution declaring a state of calamity due to the rising dengue cases there.
Sponsored by Councilor Lou Suaybaguio, chair of the committee of health, Resolution 911 series of 2023 was proposed by the City Health Office in coordination with the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office on November 21.
As of Friday, the city confirmed nine deaths. The casualties included patients as young as three years old.
In a radio interview on Wednesday, CHO Sanitation Inspector VI Vincent Hyner Delima reported 1,054 dengue cases in the city, with Barangay Visayan Village having the highest number of patients at 206.
Barangay Apokon had the second most number of cases with 162, followed by Barangay Mankilam with 140.
The barangays with double-digit number of cases included La Filipina, San Miguel, Magugpo East, Madaum, Magugpo West, Magdum, Cuambogan, Magugpo North, Magugpo Poblacion, Canocotan, Magugpo South, San Isidro, and Pagsabangan.
Barangays Busaon, Bincungan, Libuganon, San Agustin, New Balanban, Pandapan, and Nueva Fuerza had fewer than 10 cases each.
City Health Officer Arnel Florendo said the state of calamity declaration is necessary as the spike of dengue cases reached the peak of an “epidemic curve”.
“We have reached a threshold where our search and destroy operations alone are no longer sufficient to address the situation. That is why we have decided to resort to chemical warfare, because as we observed, for instance, in one particular community, there have been two cases consistently reported over three weeks,” Florendo said in the vernacular during the deliberation of the resolution on Tuesday, which was streamed live.
Meanwhile, CDRRMO officer-in-charge Sheldon Isidro said they are ready to extend help to the CHO to curb dengue cases through an information drive.
“We can utilize our early warning system in our barangay since all 23 barangays are connected to the CDRRMO. We have designated disaster focal points and barangay captains who can assist us in conducting Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) activities to disseminate important information about dengue within our community,” Isidro said in the vernacular during the deliberation..
Both CHO and CDRRMO will submit a document that will contain the month-by-month implementation and budgetary requirements plan to the council.
The Department of Health Region XI said there has been a significant increase in dengue cases, particularly among the younger population.
From January to September 9 this year, the total number of dengue cases in the region reached 12,861, resulting in 51 deaths.
The World Health Organization describes dengue as a viral infection transmitted through mosquito bites. The disease has various serotypes, including dengue virus types (DENV) 1, 2, 3, and 4.
While most adults are immune to DENV-1, they remain susceptible to other serotypes. However, younger individuals lack immunity to all serotypes, rendering them more vulnerable. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
