Over 1,500 dengue cases recorded in Metro Manila since Jan.

Over 1,500 dengue cases have already been recorded in Metro Manila since January this year, which was around 50 percent lower than last year's over 3,000, but the number is expected to mount — albeit slightly — despite the summer season. “Breeding places nila (dengue-carrying mosquitoes) water talaga. So during the rainy season, 'dun may upsurge ng dengue cases. During summer meron pa ring cases,” said Dr. Ruby Lazaro of the Quirino Memorial Medical Center's (QMMC) pediatric department in a television report Wednesday. According to the Department of Health (DOH), which described dengue as a “year-round disease,” a total of 1,537 dengue cases have been recorded in Metro Manila since January, most of them in Quezon City, Caloocan, Manila and Pasay. In March alone, 175 dengue patients have been recorded in Metro Manila, with five fatalities. In QMMC in Quezon City, doctors said they have admitted 27 dengue patients in March, one of whom was seven-year-old Ria Abariso. “Paggising sa umaga, dumugo pa rin ang ilong niya. Nag-[desisyon] na lang kaming mag-asawa na isugod na lang rito,” said Abriso's mother Evangeline in a report by Dante Perello on GMA News TV's “News to Go.”  Last year, the DOH recorded 12,484 dengue cases in the country from January to March 10, down by 37.36 percent from the same period the previous year. In Metro Manila, the DOH recorded 3,353 cases. From January to November 2012, dengue cases reached 132,046, up 24.92 percent from the same period in 2011, the DOH said. Of the patients, 701 died. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dengue is a flu-like illness caused by mosquito bites. Initial symptoms include high fever (40 degrees celsius), severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pains, nausea, vomiting, swollen glands and rash. “Symptoms usually last for 2–7 days, after an incubation period of 4–10 days after the bite from an infected mosquito,” a WHO factsheet said. This could worsen to plasma leaking, fluid accumulation, respiratory distress, severe bleeding, or organ impairment, which could prove deadly and require medical assistance. The WHO listed the following as preventive measures against dengue:

• preventing mosquitoes from accessing egg-laying habitats by environmental management and modification;
• disposing of solid waste properly and removing artificial man-made habitats;
• covering, emptying and cleaning of domestic water storage containers on a weekly basis;
• applying appropriate insecticides to water storage outdoor containers;
• using of personal household protection such as window screens, long-sleeved clothes, insecticide treated materials, coils and vaporizers;
• improving community participation and mobilsation for sustained vector control;
• applying insecticides as space spraying during outbreaks as one of the emergency vector control measures;
• active monitoring and surveillance of vectors should be carried out to determine effectiveness of control interventions.