A SHORT PPT ON DENGUE

Dengue 23 Jul 16 by MUKESH on Scribd

Dengue:Types,Symptoms,Prevention And Stats

Dengue Might Be At Your Doorsteps

Knock It Out Before It knocks You Out ! ! !

Monsoon has arrived and so the dengue. Dengue is one of the most deadly vector borne disease affecting millions of people every year. Dengue outbreak has proven to be fatal many a times in history.

You must be properly equipped before you go on fighting against dengue. This article will make you aware of tactics and things that will help you in fighting dengue

Things to know:

• What is dengue ?
• Types of dengue fever
• Dengue symptoms
• Last year's dengue stats
• Dengue's preventive measures

What is dengue ?

Dengue is a vector borne disease that spreads through the infectious bite of female mosquito Aedes Ageypti(dengue parasite). These mosquitoes breed in fresh water and generally bite during day time or morning time.

Types of Dengue Fever

Dengue fever is generally of 2 types:

1. Normal dengue fever
2. Severe dengue fever

NOTE:-

Symptoms of Dengue Fever 

Dengue Diagnosis

• At preliminary stage, to diagnose dengue Antigen blood test (NS1)is to be done.
• If, going for diagnosis after 3-4 days, from the day you actually started developing symptoms of dengue, then go for Antibody test (Dengue Serology).
• Do keep check on the platelets count every time you for for the test.

Dengue Prevention

1. Fill up the digs or pits near by your surrounding.
2. Don't let water to stand still in water coolers, in bathrooms, in pots(flower pots!!!!).
3. Wear full sleeve clothes during day.
4. Do spread insecticides/pesticides in water coolers, near pots.

Have a look at last years outbreak in these pics

Present Scenario

Countries like Yemen, Phillipines, Brazil have come up as the worst hit dengue regions this year and thing to worry about is that it all has just started there are yet many cases to come up. In India state like Odisha is heavily affected by dengue. Jagatpur, Cuttack, Barbil are also some areas that have shown the signs of dengue outbreak.

Don't Forget, They Spread When We Become Careless

KEEP CALM AND STAY ALERT 

Sri Lanka's anti dengue drive swamped

COLOMBO - High temperatures and unseasonal rains have combined to effectively scuttle Sri Lanka's efforts to curb dengue, experts say.

The island is facing yet another outbreak this summer, with infections more than doubling in June to 3,421 cases, up from 1,477 cases during the same period in 2015.

The epidemiology unit of the Ministry of Health said that 23,000 infections had been reported countrywide up to the second week of July. In comparison only 29,000 cases were reported for the whole of 2015.

The outbreak follows heavy rains in May that left large parts of the island inundated for days. Just before the rains, the country witnessed an extended period of above-average temperatures, with the Meteorology Department confirming some areas were experiencing temperatures between 2 to 3 degrees Celsius higher than usual.

Changing weather patterns, as a result of climate change, are likely to make the battle to control dengue increasingly difficult in years to come, officials say.

“Changing rain patterns contribute to extend the period of dengue virus transmission due to more (mosquito) breeding. Temperature also plays a pivotal role by contributing to high level of (mosquito) activity,” said Faseeha Noordeen, a senior lecturer and virologist at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Peradeniya.

“These collectively contribute to extended periods of transmission and outbreaks,” she said.

The capital Colombo and the surrounding Western Province have been the hardest hit areas, with close to 50 percent of the infections reported from the province, which is also the country’s most densely populated area.

Of the 29,000 infections reported so far, 7,400 have been from Colombo.

During the May floods, large areas of Colombo were underwater for several days and, prior to the rains, the district also recorded high temperatures.

“It is obvious that changing rain patterns contribute to spread and expansion of dengue in the island,” Noordeen said.

CLEAN UP PUSH

As during past outbreaks, government authorities have heightened eradication and awareness programmes.

Members of the armed forces have been tasked with clean up operations and public officials in high-risk areas in Colombo have warned of strict action, including legal cases, against those who permit standing water on their property, which allows mosquitoes to breed.

“People are negligent, and allow breeding grounds to remain without cleaning them up. They need to be much more aware of the mosquitoes spreading soon after rains,” said Paba Palihawadana, the head of the Health Ministry’s epidemiology unit.

Over five days in late June, over 36,000 people in Colombo alone were warned to clean up their properties. Of 67,055 properties inspected in the city during that period, 16,565 were found to be high-risk areas for mosquito breeding.

“Colombo is the most vulnerable area,” said Hasitha Tissera, coordinator of the National Dengue Control Programme.

Noordeen said that it was difficult to control the spread of dengue since the eggs of dengue-carrying mosquitoes survive even in the smallest of water sources.

“The battle will be a tough one for a tropical island that is battling with changing weather patterns resulting in extended heavy rains and floods,” she said.

She said that instead of reacting to outbreaks, health authorities should study conditions that led to previous epidemics and devise a concerted plan that builds awareness and cleans up breeding areas throughout the year.

“Regular community clean-ups are a must in every village and township,” she said. And unless a comprehensive control plan “is put together and sustained, it’s going to be tough.”

Almost 2,000 dengue cases recorded in Baguio City in 7 months

BAGUIO CITY –- Dengue cases in this mountain city increased to almost 2,000 for the first seven months of the year, the Department of Health–Cordillera Regional Office (DOH-CAR) revealed Thursday.

DOH-CAR Director Lakshmi Legaspi said based on epidemiology reports, dengue cases in the region have been increasing since 2014.

To date, from January to July, there are 1,199 cases with one casualty – a 57-year old male from Barangay San Luis – compared to just 239 last year and no casualty, Legaspi said.

Baguio is above the alert level, she added, and the department is closely monitoring that it does not reach the epidemic level and become an outbreak.

Local government officials led by Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan, DOH-CAR leadership and representatives of the City Health Services Office (CHSO), re-launched the 4 o’clock habit and conducted actual “search and destroy” activities and demonstrations on mosquito breeding sites early Thursday morning in selected areas.

The DOH-CAR is going around hospitals to check on the institution’s capabilities, and in the process, activating the “fast lanes” for dengue patients to be attended immediately, Legaspi said.

“We will never be successful in our fight against Dengue with no concerted effort,” she added.

The city officials agreed to Legaspi’s call for a “concerted effort” in the fight against dengue.

Baguio City Vice Mayor Edison Bilog recommended to tap school teachers to ensure that schools have clean surroundings.

Bilog further appealed for a voluntary action from students to clean their surroundings daily.

Bilog said an anti-dengue ordinance had been filed and is now pending at the City Council. The ordinance included provisions for penalties which will be placed in a Trust Fund for use in anti-dengue activities.

He is hoping that the bill will be passed before the end of 2016.

Baguio City Councilor Joel Alangsab said the alarming status of dengue incidents in the city is an eye-opener to focus on prevention than cure.

The objective is to reduce cases in 2017, to be coordinated with other concerned agencies, he said.

Alangsab suggested that anti-dengue activities be included in the criteria for judging in the ongoing search for the Cleanest and Greenest Barangay.

Baguio City Health Services Officer Rowena Galpo said the CHSO is conscientiously performing its task reminding the public to exercise the 4 o’clock habit daily.

The CHSO meets with the barangay officials and health teams as part of community efforts for anti-dengue campaign.

Temporary misting of mosquitoes in clustered areas in the city is ongoing, Galpo said.

Misting in clustered breeding sites may be helpful when done at the time when mosquitoes are active, particularly within two hours after sunrise or within two hours before sunset, she said.

Segundo said “Misting” is better than “Fogging” because “Fogging” use diesel fuel mixed with pesticide while water and pesticide are used in Misting.

Both practices kill mosquitoes on the spot when successfully done, Segundo said, but reports have it that both is not recommended because the pesticides which may be harmful to humans.

Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center Medical Specialist Thea Cajulao reported that BGHMC is attending to an average of 50 dengue patients a day.

Fast lanes were opened to closely monitor patients and possible patients for early diagnosis and treatment.

Due to the continuous influx of dengue patients, some were sent home with proper medical instructions and advised to come back for follow-up treatment and monitoring.

Cajulao said dengue is manageable when diagnosed early and there is no need to panic.

When fever continues to develop accompanied by diarrhea, she advised to seek medical attention immediately.

Baguio dad issues AO for citywide campaign against Dengue

BAGUIO CITY,  - -With the alarming concern on dengue in the city, Mayor Mauricio Domogan issued Administrative Order No 37, series of 2016 dubbed as “Oplan Alis Kiti –kiti, Goodbye Dengue”, directing all constituents, barangays, schools and universities, church organizations, as well as government and private offices in Baguio for an awareness drive and clean – up or ‘Search and Destroy’ activities of possible dengue mosquito breeding sites.

The AO dated July 20 was presented by Secretary to the Mayor Raffy Tallocoy during the special Kapihan sa Baguio media forum at the DOH Regional training Center Wednesday held specifically to call for a multi - sectoral and community actions against Dengue.

City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo reported that from January 1 to July 16, a total of 1,199 Dengue cases were recorded in Baguio, over a four - fold increase compared to the 239 cases recorded during the same period last year.

Based on the City Epidemiology Surveillance Unit monitoring report, 50 barangays in the city have clustering or at least three Dengue cases or more. Data showed that  seven barangays  have 10 cases and above, namely Quirino Hill (10), Kias (11), North Sanitary Camp (12), Bakakeng Central (14), Fairview Village (15), Camp 7 (17), and Irisan with 19 cases.

Galpo reiterated the city health office’s call for people in every barangay to help in cleaning up possible Dengue mosquito breeding sites starting from their own households as this is the most effective way to fight the viral disease.

DOH Cordillera Regional Director Lakshmi Legaspi  pointed out that  Dengue is already a year – round concern, which is why aside from the health department and local government units’ campaign against Dengue, the active participation of communities  is very important especially in clean up activities.

Legaspi informed that the Aedes Aepypti, the dengue carrying mosquito, also carries the Zika and Chikunggunya virus.

Aside from Baguio City, Legaspi affirmed that Benguet also registered a big increase in cases.  1,483 cases were recorded from January to July 16   compared to the 437 cases recorded during the same period last year.

Before the forum, Mayor Domogan, joined by Dr. Legaspi and other DOH, City govenment and Health Services officials spearheaded an Oplan Alis Kiti – kiti awareness campaign in several public schools and barangays in the city. (JDP/CCD-PIA CAR)

Dengue fever outbreak kills 27 in Yemen’s Shabwa province

Al Mukalla: Local health officials in Yemen’s southern province of Shabwa have said an outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue fever has killed 27 people while roughly 3,000 others have contracted the disease.

Officials warn that the disease is spiralling out of control amid a chronic shortage of drugs and insecticide.

“It is a disaster in the true sense of the word,” Saleh Al Humosi, the director of provincial office of the National Control Malaria Programme, told Gulf News on Friday.

“We cannot do anything to curb the rapid spread of the disease. In March, there were only six cases and we could have nipped the disease in bud if we received help at that time,” he said.

Shabwa’s health facilities broke down last year during when Iran-backed Al Houthi militants moved into the province. Thousands of army and security soldiers who remained loyal to the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh switched sides and backed the rebels.

“We want to focus now on preventive measures. We have intensified awareness campaigns but we are in dire need of insecticide, vital drugs, and fuel,” Al Humosi said.

Al Humosi said that lack of awareness among locals and the spread of sewage are the driving factors behind the outbreak of the disease.

“Our current mosquito control efforts are mainly funded by local charities. The government provided us with 1,500 litres of fuel. We appeal to the government and international aid organisations to help us fight off the disease.”

Previous waves of the disease killed dozens of people in war-ravaged cities like Taiz, Hodeida and Aden.

Meanwhile, the Yemen Journalist Syndicate on Friday mourned the death of a pro-government journalist who was covering the current fierce fighting between the government forces and Al Houthis in the northern province of Hajja. The Syndicate said the embedded journalist Abdul Kareem Al Jarbani was killed on Thursday night when he was covering clashes between government forces and Al Houthis.

Heavy battles broke out on Thursday morning in the city of Haradh when government forces launched an assault to recapture the city from Al Houthis.

In the capital Sana’a, a bomb exploded outside Bilal mosque in Hayel Street after Friday prayer. Residents said no one was hurt in the explosion.

Flu, leptospirosis rise with surge in dengue cases – Manila health chief

MANILA — Apparently, it’s not just dengue. It’s the others, too.

The city government of Manila warned on Thursday of higher risks of infections from waterborne diseases, this after the Department of Health warned that dengue cases have increased 36 percent nationwide.

Dr. Benjamin Yson, chief of the Manila Health Department, said the “upsurge” of diseases not just of dengue, but also of leptospiroris, and influenza was, after all, “common” during the rainy season.

“So what we’ve been doing is continuous and extensive information campaign in every barangay, teaching how not to get infected with these diseases,” he said.

According to the city official, for instance, flooding speeds up the spread of dengue virus and leptospirosis.

In the case of dengue, he said floodwaters become the “breeding sites” for mosquitoes, while they become “the vehicle for transmission of bacteria from rodents, dogs, and other mammals” in the case of leptospirosis.

While Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada said he did not want anyone to get sick, but he said the city’s six public hospitals and 59 community health centers, would be “ready to provide free, prompt, and quality healthcare services to anyone who needs it.”

“Year round, we’ve been continually improving the readiness of our city hospitals to respond to any medical emergencies. Our medicines are complete,” the mayor said.

Yson said the city government has been religious in its declogging projects and other infrastructure to improve the drainage system.

“…So basically, with these interventions, we can expect less cases of these diseases this rainy season,” Yson said.  

Meeting on Dengue control held, Port Blair

A  meeting was  arranged  on 20.07.2016 at conference hall of   Sr. Sec. School, Rangachang with the coordination of UT Health Mission and Directorate of Health Services on the theme  of   “The Dengue Control everyone’s concern”. Shri Indira Devi, Vice Principal, Sr.Sec.School, Rangachang was the chief guest on the occasion. The programme started with the welcome speech by Smt M. Nirmala, GTT, Rangachang School.

Shri Subrata Biswas, District Malaria Officer emphasised the importance of early treatment and vector control for control of Dengue. Shri Vara Prasad, Malaria Inspector, Port Blair thanked the public for their cooperation in reducing the incidence of Dengue in Andaman. He emphasised that vector control is everyone’s responsibility. It can easily be achieved if everyone cooperates to   prevent water logging. He also stressed the importance of use of mosquito net especially for fever patients and pregnant mothers to prevent mosquito bite.

Dengue cases rise by 36% nationwide, says DOH

For 39-year-old housewife Maribel, the rainy season used to bring happy memories of her childhood as she and her siblings would frolic in the heavy downpour.

But not anymore. Not since a year ago when she almost lost her 8-year-old daughter to dengue hemorrhagic fever, the more severe form of dengue fever, a viral infection transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

“I had no idea it was that bad. I thought she was just having a flu because she was complaining of headache, she had fever. But it took a few days before we took her to the hospital,” she said.

“The doctor said that her blood platelet count dropped to dangerously low levels and she was at risk of bleeding complications and even death,” recalled the mother of two from Makati City.

Nowadays, the rain makes her paranoid because their place easily gets flooded and she knows the risk it brings to her children.

Now the mosquito-borne disease is on the rise and the Department of Health (DOH) is reminding the public that dengue is no longer a “rainy season disease” as cases are being reported nationwide throughout the year.

Cases up 36 percent

Based on the report prepared by the DOH epidemiology bureau, there were 57,026 dengue cases recorded nationwide from Jan. 1 to June 25, or 35.7 percent higher than the 42,026 cases recorded during the same period last year.

There was also a higher number of dengue deaths in 2016, with 248 compared with 148 in 2015 during the same period.

Based on its latest report, the DOH noted that the regions with the most number of dengue cases during the six-month period were Calabarzon with 7,463 (13.1 percent); Central Visayas, 5,783 (10.1 percent); Central Luzon, 5,586 (9.8 percent); northern Mindanao, 5,521 (9.7 percent); and Socssksargen, 4,583 (8 percent).

Vaccines

Calabarzon, Central Visayas and Central Luzon accounted for the highest number of dengue cases in the country despite the introduction of the dengue vaccines to public elementary school students in these regions.

Earlier, Grade 4 pupils aged 9 years old and above in public elementary schools in Calabarzon, Central Visayas, Central Luzon, as well as in Metro Manila, were identified as beneficiaries of the Dengue School-Based Immunization program of the DOH that started in April.

Through the program, the DOH began the administration of dengue vaccines to students in three doses, with the first one given between April and June.

Eastern Visayas

Found to have the biggest increase in dengue cases were Eastern Visayas with a 206-percent increase from 610 last year to 1,870 this year; followed by Davao region with a 138-percent increase from 1,679 to 4,002; and Central Visayas with a 137-percent increase from 2,432 to 5,783.

A declining number of dengue cases was noted in Cagayan Valley that saw a 43-percent drop from 2,664 in 2015 to 1,523 this year; and Metro Manila from 4,964 cases to 4,179.

Dengue in the Philippines: 57,000 cases, 248 deaths through 1st six months

Officials with Philippines Department of Health (DOH) report that the number of dengue fever cases reported from the beginning of the year through June 25 is nearly 36 percent higher than the same period in 2015 when the archipelago reported in excess of 200,000 cases.

In addition, dengue related fatalities are up–248 compared with 148 in 2015 during the same period.To date,  DOH there were 57,026 dengue cases recorded nationwide, compared to 42,026 cases last year during the first six months.

The regions hit the hardest to date include Calabarzon with 7,463 (13.1 percent); Central Visayas, 5,783 (10.1 percent); Central Luzon, 5,586 (9.8 percent); northern Mindanao, 5,521 (9.7 percent); and Socssksargen, 4,583 (8 percent).

Dengue fever is a disease caused by any one of four closely related dengue viruses (DENV 1, DENV 2, DENV 3, or DENV 4). The viruses are transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito.

The principal symptoms of dengue fever are high fever, severe headache, severe pain behind the eyes, joint pain, muscle and bone pain, rash, and mild bleeding(e.g., nose or gums bleed, easy bruising). Generally, younger children and those with their first dengue infection have a milder illness than older children and adults.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there may be 50–100 million dengue infections worldwide every year. However, new research from the University of Oxford and the Wellcome Trust, using cartographic approaches, estimate there to be 390 million dengue infections per year worldwide.

Dengue cases mostly found in Central Visyas, Calabarzon

AMID the introduction of the dengue vaccines to public elementary school students there, the regions of Calabarzon and Central Visayas continue to account for the highest number of dengue cases in the country, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

Based on its latest report on Dengue Cases, the DOH noted that the two regions with the most number of dengue cases during the period of January 1 to June 25 are Calabarzon with 7,463 (13.1 percent); and Central Visayas with 5,783 (10.1 percent).

Completing the Top 5 are Central Luzon with 5,586 (9.8 percent); Northern Mindanao with 5,521 (9.7 percent); and Socssksargen with 4,583 (8 percent).

Earlier, Grade 4 pupils aged 9 years old and above in public elementary schools in Calabarzon, Central Visayas, Central Luzon, as well as in Metro Manila, have been identified as the beneficiaries of the Dengue School-Based Immunization program of the DOH that started last April.

In the said program, the DOH has begun the administration of dengue vaccines to the identified beneficiaries to be comprised of three doses with the first one given from April to June 2016.

On the nationwide scale, the DOH said a total of 57,026 dengue cases have been recorded nationwide during the same period.

"This is 35.7 percent higher compared to the same time period last year, which is at 42,026," said the DOH report.

There were also a higher number of dengue deaths in 2016 with 248 compared to the 148 deaths in 2015 during the same period.

Found to have the biggest increase in cases are Eastern Visayas with a 206 percent increase from 610 last year to 1,870 this year; followed by Davao Region with a 138 percent increase from 1,679 last year to 4,002 this year; and Central Visayas with a 137 percent increase from 2,432 last year to 5,783 this year.

Meanwhile, having recorded a declining number of dengue cases are Cagayan Valley with a 43 percent drop from 2,664 in 2015 to 1,523 this year; and the National Capital Region with a downed number of 16 percent from 4,964 last year to 4,179 this year.

Antibiotic may help limit Zika’s damage, new study suggests

New research shows that the Zika virus has two routes by which it can infect a developing fetus, depending on when during a pregnancy the infection occurs. It also shows an existing drug might be able to limit the damage wreaked by the virus.

The new study, by scientists at the University of California at San Francisco and the University of California at Berkeley, suggests that an antibiotic called duramycin seems to be able to block Zika’s ability to latch onto the cells it wants to affect.

“It was day and night. There was either infection or no infection, depending on how much drug you used,” Lenore Pereira, one of two contributing authors of the study, said in an interview.

The article was published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe.

Pereira is a professor of microbiology in UCSF’s department of cell and tissue biology. She is an expert on cytomegalovirus, another virus that can trigger microcephaly — a condition in which a newborn has an abnormally small head — when it infects a developing fetus. She partnered with Eva Harris, a virus expert at UC Berkeley, on the study.

The researchers wanted to look at whether Zika virus would grow in cells from human placentas. The goal was to figure out how the virus makes its way to the developing fetus when a woman becomes infected in pregnancy.

They found that in the first trimester, the developing cells of the placenta were highly vulnerable to the virus. Pereira said the surface of the placenta does not become infected. But the virus somehow passes through the surface to the cells inside.

“We don’t know why,” she told STAT. “I really cannot tell you why the virus gets across. I cannot tell you how it gets across.”

She and Harris — who is an expert on dengue virus, a close relative to Zika — suspect that previous exposure to dengue virus may predispose some women to be more at risk of having an affected pregnancy if they become infected with Zika. But Pereira stressed that’s still a theory. And it’s known that women who haven’t previously been infected with dengue can also give birth to an affected child if they contract Zika during pregnancy.

Researchers have seen a wide range of birth defects associated with the Zika virus, including problems in the babies’ cardiac, digestive, and genitourinary systems.

The new research suggests that once infected, the placenta is, in effect, feeding virus into the fetus’s blood system, which allows Zika to make its way to the developing fetal brain.

Later in pregnancy — during the second and third trimesters — the virus is able to infect the outer cells of the amniotic sac, which encases the developing fetus. They pass into the amniotic fluid, a development that leaves the fetus “floating in virus,” Pereira said.

In this latter circumstance, the virus likely enters the fetus through the skin and gets taken up into the fetal blood stream.

Infected cells produced higher levels of virus when infection occurred in midgestation than later in the pregnancy, Pereira said. She suggested the damage the virus does to a developing fetus would likely vary, depending on how long it is exposed to the virus.

Dengue vaccine to speed up

Kota Kinabalu: PKR Inanam Assemblyman Dr Roland Chia wants the Health Ministry to speed up dengue vaccination in the country, saying he received reports that nine people had been detected with dengue in Manggatal recently.

He pointed out that the ministry should not have postponed the implementation in view of budget cuts, adding that they are risking the lives of Malaysians by doing so.

His call follows the introduction of the world's first-ever dengue vaccine called Dengvaxia.

An advisory group for the World Health Organisation had recommended nations where dengue is highly prevalent like Malaysia to consider introducing a vaccination programme.

"Our neighbouring country, Philippines has already adopted the vaccine as part of their public health policy.

"Why is Malaysia dragging its feet on this?" asked Chia, adding Malaysia was supposed to make clear its decision on the vaccination programme in June.

He said this during a field visit to Taman Seri Baru where nine individuals were down with dengue fever near the local township.

Towards this end, Chia commended efforts carried out by the authorities to spearhead a joint health campaign organised by the Manggatal Health Clinic and Manggatal Clinic Health Advisory Panel to raise awareness on the deadly disease.

He said the Government should not be absolved from its role on enforcement and that they need to ensure breeding places of mosquitoes are eradicated.

The number of deaths from dengue had tripled over the last five years from 134 in 2010 to 336 in 2015.

Sabah recorded a total of 913 cases between January and March 10 this year, an increase of 70 cases compared to the same period last year.

Sandakan recorded the highest with 319 cases, followed by Kota Kinabalu with 152 and Tawau 72

Two kids succumb to dengue in Antique

SAN JOSE, Antique July 20  - -  The Provincial Health Office reported that two children in the province died of dengue, as the number of suspected dengue cases increased from January 1 to July 16 this year.
 
“We  have two deaths, a four-year old kid from Barangay Carit-an, Patnongon, Antique; and 13-year old from Barangay Piape, Hamtic, Antique,” reports Dr. Feman Rene Autajay, Provincial DOH Officer of Antique.
 
Dr. Autajay said that the Disease Surveillance Officer of the Provincial Health Office (PHO) said the province has a total of  572 suspected dengue cases from January to July 16, 2016.
 
“This is about 160 percent higher compared to the same period last year with only 220 cases,” Autajay said.
 
The provincial DOH officer of Antique also identified five barangays as dengue hot spot areas, and these are the Barangays Poblacion and Carit-an in the municipality of Patnongon; Barangays Badiang and Funda-Dalipe in San Jose; and District II in Sibalom, Antique.
 
For her part Provincial Health Officer Dr. Ric Noel NAciongayo urged the public to keep the surroundings clean in order to eliminate breeding sites and prevent the dengue-carrying mosquitoes from breeding.
 
The disease is transmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito that is infected with a dengue virus. Dengue fever is fatal and mainly affects children.
 
Naciongayo urged the public to practice the four “ S ” recommended by the Department of Health to help prevent the spread of the disease.The four “S” stands for Seek and destroy breeding ground of the mosquitoes; Self protection measures; Seek early medical consultation; and Say no to indiscriminate fogging.
 
The Provincial Health Officer said that they will consider this time the spraying of insecticide to selected areas due to the urgency of the situation in order to prevent the dengue-carrying mosquitoes from breeding.

Hotlines outdo hospitals in pinpointing dengue

Calls to public health hotlines can predict dengue fever outbreaks two or three weeks earlier than local hospitals can confirm them, according to a new study from Pakistan.

The study looked at 300,000 calls to a health hotline in Lahore over two years. By asking callers to describe their symptoms and give their addresses, operators were able to pinpoint which districts in the city were having dengue outbreaks.

Getting that information quickly was important because mosquito-control teams could be quickly dispatched to the right neighborhoods instead of arriving late or working at random in Lahore, a city of more than 10 million people, said Lakshminarayanan Subramanian, a computer science professor at New York University and one of the authors of the study, which was published this month in the journal Science Advances.

The idea works a bit like Google Flu Trends, which tries to spot influenza outbreaks early by identifying clusters of people searching for flu symptoms or flu remedies. But in poor countries like Pakistan, few people have internet access while many have cellphones, Subramanian said.

In Lahore, mosquito-borne diseases surge each September as the first monsoons create pools of water in which mosquitoes breed. The hotline was created after a large 2011 dengue outbreak swamped local hospitals.

Residents are encouraged to call and describe their symptoms so they can be told whether to see a doctor and which hospitals have room.

They can also complain about uncollected garbage or old tires, where mosquitoes breed, or ask that mosquito-control teams visit their neighborhoods. The teams spray houses, put larvicide in water sources or even drop tilapia minnows, which eat mosquito larvae, into pools of water.

Upward trend in number of dengue cases in Singapore

Dengue fever cases are creeping up again as Singapore enters the traditional peak dengue season, with the number of cases exceeding 200 a week for the fourth week in a row.

There were 223 reported cases of dengue last week, slightly down from 246 the week before.

On June 25, a 72-year-old woman in Simei became the sixth victim here to succumb to dengue this year. In the whole of last year, four people died from the virus.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) and Ministry of Health (MOH) are "anticipating an upward trend in the number of dengue cases in the coming months".

Since April, the NEA has found 50 per cent more Aedes mosquitoes, which spread the virus, caught in its Gravitraps islandwide.

A total of 9,641 cases have already been reported this year. Over all of last year, just over 11,200 people were diagnosed with dengue.

The NEA said in February that there could be more than 30,000 cases this year - higher than the historic 22,170 cases reported in 2013.

The year started with cases at an unusual high, at one point surpassing 600 a week in January despite it being the traditional low season.

The cases fell to a low of 158 in the second week of June but have now started to rise again.

The Asian Dengue Vaccination Advocacy, a scientific group of dengue experts across the region, said it expects the recent "alarming rise" in cases to continue, partly due to climate change. It added: "The spike in cases cannot be seen in isolation as factors such as large-scale urbanisation make it easy for the Aedes mosquito to breed."

There are now 44 active dengue clusters in Singapore, down from 49 last week. Of these, eight are classified as high-risk.

The biggest is the Dunbar Walk-Telok Kurau cluster, where 70 cases have been reported since the cluster started, 12 of these in the past two weeks.

The Jalan Ismail-Lorong Marican cluster in Eunos has had 49 cases, and the Admiralty Drive-Sembawang Drive one has had 48.

Of the six people who died from dengue this year, three were in their 70s and two in their 60s. The youngest was a 47-year-old man.

Infectious diseases expert Leong Hoe Nam from Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital said that the elderly, especially if they have conditions such as lung or heart problems, tend to be more susceptible to the virus. "Dengue can be the final straw that pushes them over," he said.

Domestic containers remain the most common breeding ground for the Aedes mosquito at home, followed by flower-pot plates or trays and ornamental containers.

Following the latest death on June 25, the NEA found and destroyed a mosquito-breeding site in a bamboo pole holder at Block 135, Simei Street 1.

The NEA and MOH reminded residents to cap bamboo pole holders when they are not in use.