MANILA, (PNA) –Vigilance against vectors of dengue and leptospirosis should be a year-round commitment of every Filipino household, said Health Secretary Enrique Ona on Tuesday.
Secretary Ona said dedication and participation of every Filipino household in combating dengue and leptospirosis cases should not stop and instead became a continuing practice even after the rainy season.
“Our monitoring of dengue and leptospirosis cases continues even after the rainy season,” Secretary Enrique Ona said.
Ona cited that as the rainy season draws to a close in the next few weeks, the trend of increasing cases of dengue and leptospirosis appears to have been deterred with effective interventions initiated by the DOH.
He said that a total of 117,658 dengue cases were reported from January 1 to September 7, 2013.
“This is 5.25% lower compared to the same time period last year,” he added.
He said most of the cases recorded came from Regions VI (14.28%), Region IV-A (13.98%), Region VII (9.38%), Region XII (7.98%) and Region III (7.82%).
He added that Metro Manila benefited most from the interventions initiated by the DOH as it reduced the number of dengue cases from about 23,957 cases in 2012 to just 7,909 cases in 2013.
“This represents a drop of 67% compared to last year,” he further added.
He also pointed out that a similar trend was observed in the number of deaths from dengue.
“The number of deaths from dengue was reduce from 107 cases last year to 11 cases today,” he again added.
In a similar fashion, the DOH chief pointed out also that leptospirosis cases were 72.13% lower compared to last year.
“There were a total of 5,658 cases last year compared to 1,577 leptospirosis cases in this current year,” he added.
The regions that were affected by leptospirosis came from the NCR (27.65%), Region III (14.39%), Region VI (13.82%), Region IV-A (9.07%) and Region XI (8.56%).
He said that despite the relative concentration of cases in Metro Manila, the number of cases decreased from 2,150 cases last year compared to 436 cases this current which represents an 80% decrease.
The DOH chief attributed the drop of dengue cases to current interventions such as the aggressive campaigns to prevent dengue such as cleaning possible mosquito areas as well as self-protection measures
“Other interventions, such as the ovitraps which was highlighted in the SONA of President Aquino, appear to be an effective method in curtailing the rise of dengue cases,” he added.
In a similar manner, preventive measures by giving Doxycycline as prophylaxis against leptospirosis that was initiated by DOH in coordination with the local government units (LGUs) is also another contributory factor that leads to drop of cases of leptospirosis.
Doxycycline was released by the National Center Pharmaceutical Access Management – DOH especially to high-risk groups.
Also, leptospirosis cases were decreased significantly due to the less flooding in flood prone areas through the efforts of the DPWH in improving the drainage systems.