Dengue cases sharply down but ‘biters’ keep DOH busy

The number of reported dengue cases in Metro Manila in the first quarter of the year reflected a 41-percent drop from that of the same period in  2013, Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.

Data from the DOH Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU) recorded 1,638 cases admitted in various hospitals in the capital from Jan. 1 to March 22. The same period in 2013 recorded 2,796 cases.

Most of the cases this year were in Manila, with 363. Quezon City had 302 cases; Las Piñas City, 139; Pasig City, 133; Caloocan City, 118; Parañaque City, 108; and Taguig City, 103. Five cases resulted in deaths.

“The low (incidence) means that Metro residents are now more cautious and concerned about the disease. It is important that we sustain our cleanup efforts, especially at home, by seeking out and destroying mosquito breeding sites,” Health Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa said in a statement.

But despite the downward trend in dengue cases, which are caused by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, DOH efforts have been directed lately to a less menacing but still pesky problem involving another type of mosquito.

The DOH-National Capital Region office has stepped up spraying operations using water-based permethrine in the cities of Pasig, Malabon and Quezon where a significant number of Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes were reportedly proliferating.

Herbosa stressed that Culex mosquitoes do not carry diseases such as dengue or chikungunya, “but we still need to eliminate them because of their irritating and painful bites that can cause the skin to swell.”

The agency also drew attention to possible breeding grounds at the site of public works projects, such as road repairs and diggings where water can collect and stagnate in puddles. Tina G. Santos