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[av_heading heading=’CHO forms mosquito surveillance team’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – To curb the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, the City Health Office (CHO) created a vector entomology surveillance team against dengue, Zika and chikungunya viruses.
Dr. Bernard Caspe, city health officer, said the team is composed of sanitary inspectors, CHO disease surveillance officers and nurses.
“We requested the Department of Health (DOH) to train our team,” said Caspe.
DOH Region 6 has a team vector entomology surveillance team but CHO decided to form its own after a surge in dengue and Zika cases.
Before, Caspe said vector surveillance is done by the team from Department of Health only but since the city experienced upsurge in dengue cases here as well as Zika virus, CHO decided to create its own surveillance team.
DOH’s cumulative cases of dengue this year from Jan. 1 to Oct.1 reached 1,424 with three deaths. It counted 12 Zika cases as of last week.
Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog ordered sanitation inspectors to assess the villages, particularly those with high dengue cases and remind residents to continuously destroy the breeding grounds of Aedes mosquitoes that transmit dengue, Zika and chikungunya viruses.
Caspe said the surveillance team will be catching Aedes wrigglers or adult mosquitoes for analysis at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Metro Manila.
“Before kami mag-inside residual spraying sa isa ka barangay, makuha kami samples of pitik-pitik (wrigglers) or adult mosquitoes sa mga households. Kon high risk (large population of Aedes mosquitoes), we will recommend nga bilog nga barangay i-spray,” said Caspe.
If the area is “low risk”, “ma-recommend lang kami spraying within 200 meters perimeter around sang balay,” Caspe added.
Several barangays were already identified as high risk: Benedicto, MV Hechanova and Grand Plains subdivision, Alta Tierra Village, and Sambag in Jaro district; San Juan, Santa Cruz and Santo Domingo in Arevalo district; and Magsaysay Village in La Paz district.
Dengue is caused by day-biting Aedes egypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes that breed in clear, stagnant water.
Dengue fever lasts about six to seven days, with a smaller peak of fever at the trailing end of the disease. Clinically, the platelet count will drop.
Patients may also suffer from gastritis with some combination of associated abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
Zika and chikungunya have the same symptoms, too, but not fatal.
Zika, however, is prompting worldwide concern because of its connection to a neurological birth disorder — microcephaly — and its rapid spread across the globe./PN
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