Cagayan de Oro steps up campaign vs. dengue

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines — While fears of an outbreak of A(H1N1) cases gripped parts of the country, health officials in the southern city of Cagayan de Oro rallied residents on Friday to step up an awareness campaign against dengue, which they said posed a bigger danger. “We should actually be more afraid of dengue than swine flu because if we look at statistics, many have died of dengue while those who have the A (H1N1) virus easily recuperate," said Dr. Jaime Bernadas, regional director of Department of Health in the Northern Mindanao region (Region 10). Bernadas noted that in the first five months of the year, the DOH has monitored three deaths and more than 200 cases of dengue from five highly congested areas in the city. Health officials reminded city folks to keep their surroundings always clean, and employ preventive measures against the deadly disease. He said measures to avoid contracting dengue is summarized by 4 S’s: search and destroy, self-protection, sek early consultation, and Say no to indiscriminate fogging. Local health units have been asked to actively search and destroy possible breeding grounds for the larvae (eggs) of the dengue virus carrying mosquito Aedes aegpti. Residents were also warned not to employ indiscriminate fogging as this will only kill mosquitos but will not destroy the larvae breeding grounds, and may cause harmful effects to humans. - GMANews.TV