Dengue in Zamboanga ‘alarming’ -- health execs
By Julie Alipala
Mindanao Bureau
First Posted 22:50:00 03/06/2008
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines -- Even as the number of dengue cases here has reached 386 in less than three months since the start of the year, health officials said they are not declaring an outbreak at the moment.
"It's alarming but at this moment we cannot just declare an outbreak while we are trying to do everything to control and prevention the cases through intensified campaign," city health officer Dr. Rodelin Agbulos said.
Last year, only 90 cases were reported during the same three months.
Agbulos said the villages of Tetuan and Calarian are the most affected by dengue.
But health officials insist they were doing everything, like intensifying the cleanup drive campaign and fogging operations to "search and destroy" breeding grounds of Aegis mosquitoes.
Of the 386 cases recorded, Agbulos said, 90 percent are children.
Dr. Jason Caranay said government officials and residents should do something to prevent the fast increasing number of dengue cases in the city.
Caranay said he had attended to about five dengue patients at the Brent Hospital and two others at the Ciudad Medical.
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