Due to the continuous decrease of dengue cases in the province, the Iloilo Provincial Health Office (PHO) will endorse to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) the lifting of the existing dengue outbreak that was declared in the province on July 5, 2019.
The province was forced to declare an outbreak after a surge of dengue cases were reported in the province from January 1 to June 29, 2019. This is 777 percent higher than the 439 cases in the province during the same period in 2018.
Dr. Patricia Grace Trabado, PHO head, confirmed the decreasing cases in the province.
Trabajo cited some instances, starting from December 8 to 14, 2019, where the province posted 26 new cases. The following week, however, the province surprisingly recorded only one case.
The PHO data from January 1 to Dec. 14, 2019 or the 50th morbidity week recorded 22,040 cases with 78 fatalities.
“There was actually a week, the 49th morbidity week (December 1 to 7), that we were already below the alert level,” she added.
The rise of dengue cases last year was already expected by the province since it was the third year of the “three-year cycle”, which according to Trabado, incidence of cases spikes according to this interval.
This 2020, however, starts another round with fewer cases of dengue are anticipated to arise.
“2022 is another peak, and this could happen if we do not sustain our efforts to fight the vector,” she added.
Trabado also cautioned the public not to be confident because the disease can attack even in the first month of the new year.
“Dengue has no season. It occurs whole year round so as early as January, we should sustain the massive 4S (search and destroy mosquito breeding places, secure self-protection, seek early consultation and support fogging only in hotspot areas) strategy,” she explained. (RJ Espartinez)