By Annabel Petinglay
ILOILO CITY, (PNA) — The town of Miag-ao in the first district of Iloilo province is now being considered a dengue hotspot after 24 new cases have been reported to the Iloilo Provincial Health Office.
“Every day there are at least seven cases admitted from Miag-ao to the Guimbal District Hospital, which serves as catchment hospital for Miag-ao and the other towns in the first district,” Dr. Maria Socorro Colmenares Quinon of the IPHO said.
She also cited their monitoring from September 14-21 or the 28th morbidity week when these 24 new dengue cases from Miag-ao were reported.
The IPHO official said that with the 24 new cases the town of Miag-ao has now 295 cases including two deaths reported from Jan. 1 to Sept. 21.
The latest death was of a six-year old girl who died on Sept. 4.
She said that based on their monitoring the dengue cases come from 10 barangays of Miag-ao where there are now clustering of cases. These barangays are Narat-an, Durog, Kirayan Tacas, Lacadon, Cavite, Igtuba, Bagumbayan, Indag-an, Naulid and Sapa.
Because of the dengue cases, the IPHO has sent Deludge, which is a chemical used in spraying against mosquitoes.
The IPHO is now advising for indoor residual spraying on the barangays without the availability of a fogging machine.
“The barangays may already do fogging because of the dengue cases but without the machine they could have back pack spraying instead,” Dr. Quinon contended.
Aside from it, the IPHO is also urging for the continuous “search and destroy” of mosquito breeding places to get rid of the dengue carriers.
The barangays where there are clustering of cases may also declare state of calamity now if the barangay officials would so decide so they could use their calamity fund for the treatment of dengue afflicted people and for their cleanliness drive.
Dr. Quinon added that no less than barangay captains themselves should be the ones to lead their communities in the campaign against dengue since their mayor Macario Napulan, who is a doctor, is already doing as much as he could do.