Plagata asks CHO to review strategy
City Councilor Erwin Plagata said the City Health Office (CHO) should review its strategy on the anti-dengue campaign after Iloilo City incurred the highest incidence rate in the whole Western Visayas.
There are already 21 recorded dengue deaths in the city. The recent dengue victim is a five-year old girl from Project 5, Barangay Sooc, Mandurriao.
Plagata, chair of the committee on health and sanitation of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, said the high incidence of dengue is a manifestation that the strategy is not effective. The dengue incidence must have already contained if the strategy is working. It is high time to review the strategy, Plagata said.
The CHO is embarking on the 4S strategy to address the problem on dengue. The 4S strategy includes: search and destroy, self-protection by wearing proper clothing, seek early consultation and say no to indiscriminate fogging.
The strategy is in accordance with the campaign of the Department of Health. Mayor Jerry Treñas also requested the 180 barangay captains to initiate clean up drive as preventive measures against dengue. The chief executive was alarmed by the number of dengue cases and deaths in the city, but he said the situation does not yet warrant the declaration of a dengue outbreak.
Earlier, Dr. Glen Alonsabe, DOH-6 epidemiologist, also recommended that the local government units with high incidence of dengue cases must review their strategy in their anti-dengue campaign.
Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever are caused by viral strains. The virus is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes Stegomyia aegypti and Stegomyia albopticus, previously known as Aedes aegypti. Dengue is the second deadliest mosquito-borne illness after malaria.
There are no specific treatments for dengue fever available yet; supportive treatments include bed rest, fluid administration and analgesia. There is no available vaccine to prevent dengue fever, although several vaccines are currently in development.
Plagata also lamented that the CHO did not provide them copies of dengue cases in the city for the legislative body to come up with a policy statement to prevent the occurrence of more dengue cases.
A task force chaired by Dr. Mae Delmo of the City Health Office was also created to come up with a solution on the rising dengue cases. The CHO has been conducting information campaign regarding dengue before the cases increased.