Dengue cases continue upward trend
Health officials, even the church, upped the tempo on their campaign against dengue hemorrhagic fever with the continued rise in the cases.
As of July 22 this year, the Provincial Health Office has recorded 262 cases, up by about four cases compared with last year's figures. The death toll continues to hold at six, with the latest casualty occurring during the last week of June.
Dr. Patricia Grace Trabado, OIC provincial health officer, downplayed the number of cases, saying that it has not gone out of control.
The number may continue to rise based on reports direct from district hospitals, which indicated more persons were admitted on suspicions of dengue.
Based on the number of cases per week, there is an upward trend.
From 19 cases from June 11-17, the figure ballooned to 27 the following week. It rocketed to 45 from June 25 to July 1. Succeeding weeks saw declining cases of confirmed dengue, although the total number of patients increased.
The Archdiocese of Jaro has already instructed its priests to include in their homilies measures on dengue prevention, particularly cleanliness.
It also issued a circular to all parishes for church bells to be rung every afternoon from July 30 to August 6 as a signal for residents of the city's 180 barangays to remove or destroy possible breeding grounds of mosquitoes carrying the virus.
Trabado also said that health workers in the barangays continue with their rounds to ensure that breeding places are eliminated.
"Everybody should be involved. Everybody is at risk," she said.
Trabado explained the 'four S' in their campaign against dengue -- search and destroy of breeding places, self-protection, seeking of early medical intervention, and saying no to indiscriminate use of fogging.