Just recently, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas shared literature about dengue disease in a social media post, reminding Ilonggos to conduct a constant cleanup of surroundings to get rid of dengue-carrying mosquitos. The advisory seems timely as the rainy season is fast approaching.
According to the Iloilo City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit, there have been 150 dengue cases from January to May, this also includes one death in February this year. Furthermore, a 74.4% drop in cases was recorded, compared to last year’s cases.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease, with the virus belonging to the family ‘Flaviviridae’. Dengue has four strains namely DENV1, DENV2, DENV3. Signs and symptoms include fever, headache, rash, low white blood cell count to mention a few. Over the years, there has been no specific treatment to dengue aside from rehydration. However, there have been speculations of the effectiveness of certain herbal concoctions as well as platelet count being the gauge of dengue severity.
It is important to: seek and destroy breeding places, secure self-protection, seek early consultation, and support spraying to prevent an impending outbreak. It was also indicated that persons more susceptible to bleeding due to dengue include persons with low blood pressure, persons taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication such as mefenamic, persons with peptic ulcer disease, and persons taking anticoagulants.
