New website allows monitoring of dengue in schools

Health workers and education officials, as well as the general public, may now keep tabs on dengue cases in schools with a newly launched dengue monitoring website launched by the Department of Science and Technology.

 

The DOST said the new site can help curb dengue cases by having health workers monitor possible dengue sites and recommend interventions to local government officials.

 

Developed by DOST's Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, the dengue alert website dubbed "Dengue Vector Surveillance website" features a map with red and white balloons.

 

"Red balloons indicate 'alert' which means that the population density of dengue-carrying mosquitoes in a certain area is too much and interventions are needed promptly," the DOST said.

 

White balloons indicate the population of the dengue-carrying mosquito is sparse or virtually non-existent—thus not a cause for worry.

 

"Vector refers to an organism, in this case the Aedes aegypti mosquito, that carries disease-causing microorganisms such as the dengue virus from one host to another," the DOST said.

 

Before the launch, Secretaries Mario Montejo (DOST), Armin Luistro (Education), and Enrique Ona (Health) installed Ovicidal-Larvicidal (OL) Traps at the Kamuning Elementary School to start the inter-agency effort against dengue.

 

The government considers dengue a year-round threat and has asked the public to keep surroundings clean and dry, to prevent dengue-carrying mosquitoes from breeding.

 

With the website, the DOST said public health workers can check trends and recommend actions to be taken by policy makers and community leaders.

 

"This function puts the country one step ahead of the dengue menace, the peak season of which occurs during the rainy months," it said.

 

Monitoring

 

The DOST said schools can monitor mosquito population where OL Traps are installed.

 

OL traps developed by the DOST's Industrial Technology Development Institute have black containers, lawanit paddles where mosquitoes lay their eggs, and pellets used to make a solution that kills the eggs and larvae.

 

School-based monitors check on the traps weekly and report the number of traps that contain mosquito eggs and larvae.

 

But while monitors had to fill in weekly reports manually, they can now text their reports which are then automatically encoded to the website.

 

Project NOAH integration

 

The DOST said the dengue alert website is now being prepared for integration into the Project NOAH platform.

 

Once integrated, visitors to the NOAH website will get location-specific information on weather and floods along with dengue alert and status. —VC, GMA News