Dengue cases shoot up in Iligan

ILIGAN CITY — Amid strict enforcement of protocols to ward off the coronavirus disease, local health officials in this city have called on the public to take precautions against dengue infection as cases of the mosquito-borne disease shoot up in the first half of January.

A disease surveillance report showed there were 18 cases in the city from the villages of Maria Cristina, Suarez Hinaplanon, Tipanoy Acmac, Digkilaan, San Miguel, Santiago and Saray-Tibanga from Jan. 1 to Jan. 15. One patient died on Jan. 22.

Ed Krishna Alivio, disease surveillance officer of the City Health Office, said the current count was three times the nine cases recorded during the same period last year.

Alivio said the increase was due to the prevailing weather that brought scattered to heavy rainfall and left stagnant pools of water where dengue-carrying mosquitoes bred.

“At this time of the year, our enemy is not just COVID-19 but also dengue and other diseases such as leptospirosis, rabies, tuberculosis and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus),” Alivio emphasized. —DIVINA M. SUSON AND RYAN D. ROSAURO