The Provincial Health Office has directed search and destroy operations against mosquitoes as deaths from dengue fever in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City as of yesterday reached 19, while 1,019 others have fallen ill from the disease.

Aedes aegypti, the transmitter of the disease, is a day-biting mosquito which lays eggs in clear and stagnant water found in flower vases, cans, rain barrels, old rubber tires, etc. The adult mosquitoes rest in dark places of the house.

Millions of mosquito larvae were found in a 1 hectare area near the public cemetery in Hinobaan town by a local search and destroy team late last week and Provincial Health Officer Luisa Efren said insecticide was sent by her office to address the problem.

She said a fire truck was also used to help suck out water from the area to remove the mosquitoes' breeding ground.

We are campaigning for search and destroy operations to put a stop to the spread of dengue carrying mosquitoes, she said.

She said the upsurge in dengue cases can be attributed to the fact that the public has forgotten to maintain cleanliness.

A DOH advisory reminds the public to cover water drums and water pails at all times to prevent mosquitoes from breeding, replace water in flower vases once a week, clean all water containers once a week, scrub the sides well to remove eggs of mosquitoes;

Clean gutters of leaves and debris so that rain water will not collect as breeding places of mosquitoes, old tires used as roof support should be punctured or cut to avoid accumulation of water, and all unusable tin cans, jars, bottles and other items that can collect and hold water should be removed.

Of the 19 deaths this year Bacolod had six, Hinobaan - three, Sagay and Valladolid two each and Cadiz, Don Salvador Benedicto, Kabankalan, Ilog and Bago had one each, Provincial and City Health Office figures showed.

Meanwhile, PHO figures showed the following number of dengue cases: Bacolod City - 451, Bago City - 88, Binalbagan - 1, Cadiz City - 21, Calatrava - 1, Candoni - 8, Cauayan - 4, Don Salvador Benedicto - 5, Enrique B. Magalona - 7, Escalante City - 3, Himamaylan City - 3, Hinigaran - 8, Hinoba-an - 84;

Ilog - 13, Isabela - 3, Kabankalan City - 52, La Carlota City - 4, La Castellana - 6, Manapla - 11, Moises Padilla - 2, Murcia - 11, Pontevedra - 7, Pulupandan - 10, Sagay City - 33, San Carlos City - 5, San Enrique - 6, Silay City - 14, Sipalay City - 51, Talisay City - 14, Toboso - 2, Valladolid - 4, and Victorias City - 87

The DOH advisory said symptoms of dengue are the sudden onset of high fever that may last two to seven days, joint and muscle pain and pain behind the eyes, weakness, skin rashes, nose bleeding when fever starts to subside, abdominal pain, vomiting of coffee-colored matter and dark-colored stools.*CPG

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