Dengue alert up in Baguio

BAGUIO CITY — City health authorities have alerted residents to the dangers of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne ailment which has afflicted 122 people since January.

The city health office said about 40 to 50 percent of the city’s 128 barangays have at least one dengue case each, but Dr. Florence Reyes, city health officer, clarified that there is "no outbreak."

Reyes said there is no cause for alarm since there is no clustering of dengue cases.

Nevertheless, Mayor Braulio Yaranon has directed the city health office to intensify its dengue prevention measures, including fogging, spraying and cleanup of potential mosquito-breeding sites, to prevent more cases.

Yaranon also ordered an information campaign to apprise residents on how to avoid the ailment.

Reyes said they have mobilized the health emergency response and district health and sanitation teams in all barangays to undertake a massive cleanup of their respective communities.

She urged city residents to observe the "four o’clock habit," ridding their houses and surroundings of empty bottles, cans, tires, vases and containers where Aedes mosquitoes, which transmit the dengue virus, could breed.

Aedes mosquitoes are "day biters" and may transmit the virus from 6 to 8 a.m. and from 4 to 6 p.m.

Dengue symptoms include on-and-off fever lasting for two to seven days, loss of appetite, nausea/vomiting, abdominal pain, body weakness, small reddish spots on the chest, arms and legs, bleeding (nose and gum bleeding, vomiting blood, and blood in stools), restlessness, and difficulty in breathing.

Reyes advised afflicted residents to take paracetamol, not aspirin (which could cause bleeding or gastric irritation) for fever, and increase fluid intake or use an oral rehydration solution.

Patients with persistent symptoms must be brought immediately to the nearest health center or hospital, she said.