Simple trap for mosquitoes credited for dengue decline

TACLOBAN CITY—The use of mosquito traps created by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has helped this city post a huge drop in dengue fever cases for the first eight months of 2011.

According to Tacloban City health officer Dr. Jaime Opinion, the city only had 35 cases of dengue from January to August compared to 4,000 cases in the same period last year.

There were no reported deaths due to dengue in the first eight months of this year compared to 29 deaths in the same period last year.

Opinion attributed the significant drop in the number of cases to the distribution of ovicidal larvicidal (OL) traps to homes across the city.

Early this year, the city government, through its health office, distributed 20,000 OL traps to households to fight the spread of dengue.

Tacloban City has been used as a show window by the Department of Health in the use of OL traps, Opinion said.

Various “hot spots” in Tacloban that had a high number of dengue fever cases last year reported a decline in the number of dengue cases, he added.

Opinion cited as an example Barangay 109 (V&G Subdivision), which registered only three dengue fever cases from January to August, a huge drop from last year’s 122 cases.

The OL trap is made of an ordinary tin can painted black that has a strip of lawanit board dipped in a solution that kills mosquito eggs and larvae.

“Of course, aside from the OL traps, the vigilance of our people as well as our continued and sustained campaign against dengue fever were the other factors that caused our dengue fever cases to drop by 99 percent,” Opinion said.

He said that while he expected the number of dengue cases in the city to increase before the year ends, he believed it won’t be significant.

“But we will still sustain our campaign. We will remain vigilant,” Opinion said.