THANKS to Cagayan de Oro City Hall’s launching of its dengue awareness campaign, the city’s dengue cases went down slightly below the alert level threshold, the city’s top epidemiologist said.
“While Cagayan de Oro City is still far below the epidemic threshold (of more than 200 cases a week), the city has already breached the alert level threshold (of more than 50 cases a week) in the three previous morbidity weeks. But thanks to our timely ‘Big Bang’ information-education campaign, we raised public awareness (on dengue prevention),” said City Health Office (CHO) epidemiologist Dr. Teodulfo Joselito Retuya Jr on Monday.
Dr. Retuya referred to the Aug. 15 dengue awareness sticker campaign launching led by Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy.
Peaking at more than 50 cases between the 29th and 31st morbidity week, dengue cases in Cagayan de Oro City fell slightly below the 50 mark on the 31st week, CHO data showed. Morbidity is an epidemiological term indicating the state of being symptomatic or unhealthy for a disease or condition.
The morbidity of a disease or in this case dengue is measured in its prevalence or rate of incidence within a given population in a specific time as divided into 52 ‘morbidity weeks.’
The CHO previously reported that the city logged 692 cases from January to July this year or more than double the 327 logged in the same period last year.
Dr. Retuya said dengue cases follow a two-to-three year pattern of increase in the city which recorded its last increase in 2020.
“The cases went down after our extensive and intensive dengue awareness campaign at the barangay level, led by our designated health personnel,” Dr. Retuya said.
Free fogging will be provided to dengue-plagued barangays upon the request of their barangay officials.
In the meantime, Dr. Retuya advised the public to comply with the 5S strategy for dealing with dengue which is namely Seek and Destroy dengue breeding grounds such as stagnant water; Seek early treatment of dengue; Self-Protection Measures such as using mosquito repellent lotion and wearing long-sleeved clothing and long socks; Support Spraying or fogging; and Self-Hydration. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)