Dengue Still Deadlier Than A(H1N1)

Dengue is still far more fatal than the "popular" Swine Flu virus. So far, 3 were found positive in Bacolod City. This morning I attended a consultative meeting of all MHOs and CHOs and COH's at the Provincial Health Office and part of the agenda was the update on the Swine Flu. Although there are at least 200 confirmed cases already in the country, there is still zero mortality. And so far, most of those positive for the Swine Flu Virus have already recovered and are doing well presently. My only fear is, with too much hype on this Flu Virus, we might forget another virus which is far even deadlier than the Swine Flu: Dengue Virus.

It is no longer a seasonal disease. Throughout the year, there are cases of dengue and half of which are usually hemorrhagic in nature. The good news is, we can prevent dengue because the vector for the virus is something which we can eradicate: the mosquito, specifically Aedes aegypti mosquito. By destroying their breeding places, we can prevent the spread of these vectors and therefore prevent the spread of the Dengue virus. In other words, cleanliness plays a vital role in the elimination of the disease.

As our way of preventing the spread of the disease and therefore preventing possible deaths from complications of the disease among our community members in Candoni, we launched our Anti-Dengue Brigade yesterday. The other day, June 15, all 9 barangays simultaneously conducted "Search and Destroy" activity, despite the rains. Yesterday was only a ceremonial re-launching of the 4 o'clock habit promoted by the Department of Health.








Our launching ceremony was attended by students, teachers, municipal employees, barangay officials of neighboring barangays, health workers and private individuals. At exactly 4 pm, SB Dolores Tomol, in behalf of our Acting Mayor Jimmy Tiaga, rang the bell signalling the start of the clean up drive, the "Search and Destroy" activity. After the bell has been rung, students and employees went around the municipal hall and the neighboring grounds to pick up trash and look for possible places where mosquitoes can breed.

We were blessed with good weather and active students from Quirico Manzano Memorial National High School and Our Lady of Lourdes High School.

We have also released IEC materials which we gave out during the Launching ceremony reminding the community to practice the 4 o'clock habit. So far, we have 2 unconfirmed cases of Dengue coming from Barangay Payauan. We have yet to validate this report. I am expecting some rise in Dengue cases this year although we can stop this rise if we continue our clean up drive in the spirit of bayanihan.