- CHERYL G. CRUZ
A nine-year old girl with congenital anomalies succumbed to dengue complications in Bacolod, and is the first fatality this 2023, the City Health Office said Monday, Feb. 6.
Dr. Grace Tan, head of the CHO Environmental Sanitation Division, said they logged 39 cases of dengue, as of Jan. 28, which is 62.5 percent higher than the cases in the same period last year at 24 with one death.
A clustering of cases was also noted in barangays Pahanocoy, Vista Alegre, Estefania, and Mansilingan, Tan said in a report released Feb. 6.
Of the dengue cases recorded in the first 28 days of this year, barangays Vista Alegre and Pahanocoy logged four each, three cases each in Granada, Estefania, Mandalagan, and Mansilingan, and two cases each in Alijis, Tangub, Taculing, Barangay 40, Singcang, and Villamonte.
Dengue is transmitted through a bite of an infected Aedes mosquito. This type of mosquito can lay dozens of eggs in a space or container that holds clear and stagnant water, like bottles and bottle caps, dish drainer, plants, gutter, old rubber tire, and water storage, and can breed in and outside of houses or dwellings and schools, Tan said.
“Peak biting is two hours after sunrise and two hours before sunset,” she added, and stressed the need to search and destroy all breeding and nesting places of mosquitoes, use self-protection to avoid insect bites, seek early treatment and staying hydrated especially when with fever, and to support fogging or spraying, particularly if there is clustering of cases in the community./CGC
