Mayor declares dengue outbreak in Biliran town

TACLOBAN CITY – Mayor Rodolfo Espina, Sr. of Kawayan town in Biliran province on Wednesday declared a dengue outbreak due to the number of children that acquired the mosquito-transmitted disease.

As of Tuesday, 81 dengue cases were recorded in the province’s 10 barangays.

The village of Mapuyo has the biggest number of cases with 42 followed by the village of Tucdao with 12, said Dr. Christine Balasbas, municipal health officer, in a phone interview.

She said a five-year-old boy from Barangay Tucdao died on January 24 due to dengue while being treated at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center in Tacloban City.

Balasbas added that while they have 81 cases, many of them have already recovered from the illness.

About 15 patients remained at their rural health unit as they were still being treated.

With the declaration of an outbreak, Balasbas said they could now access money from the local disaster fund to buy another unit of fogging machine, medicines and other needed supplies.

The regional Department of Health based in Palo, Leyte, has reported 491 dengue cases in Eastern Visayas with two deaths as of last week.

Aside from the boy from Kawayan, a 20-year Sangguniang Kabataan chairman from Tacloban City also died on Jan.16 due to dengue fever.

John Paul Roca, DOH information officer, asked the local governments to clean their surroundings to get rid of dengue-causing mosquitoes.

He also urged the mothers to have their children vaccinated with the anti-dengue fever vaccine. /lzb