Record Baguio dengue cases attributed to prevention failures

BAGUIO CITY—Baguio City's Anti-Dengue Task Force identified that the failure to implement preventive measures within households, such as the destruction of mosquito breeding and the failure to seek early consultation, contributed significantly to the city's record-breaking number of cases.

City Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (CESU) Chief Dr. Donnabel Tubera-Panes said that the city recorded a total of 5,505 cases as of 22 August, 2024, the highest in the city’s history, compared to last year’s 645 cases, reflecting a 753 percent increase. The reported deaths have also risen to 12 from seven.

According to the Baguio City Health Services Office (CHSO), most of the fatalities were already in a severe stage when they sought consultation, with many adult victims having comorbidities.

The Sanitation Division of the CHSO, which works with the community in implementing anti-dengue measures, reported that a total of 241 households were found to have violated the provisions of the city's anti-dengue ordinance in barangays. The division coordinated with the barangay officials for appropriate actions.

The ordinance prohibits storing water in containers that are not tightly covered, keeping and storing water-filled vases, using ornamental plants with pot saucers and axil plants for long periods, keeping or having discarded tires, discharging wastewater or sewage onto streets, roads, alleys, and pathways, and conducting chemical control methods without clearance from the CHSO and the Department of Health.

The CHSO has maintained preventive measures. Aside from strengthening case surveillance, the CHSO is also implementing the 5S anti-dengue public awareness campaign and clean-up drives through the “Denguerra – War against Dengue" program, an intensified campaign to mobilize barangays to conduct massive and simultaneous search-and-destroy operations every Thursday to weed out mosquito breeding sites, as well as other interventions to stop the reproduction of dengue-carrying mosquitoes and the use of larvicides in critical barangays.

The city government also launched an online system for reporting cases to boost surveillance and capture all cases as part of the CHSO’s newly developed monitoring system, which, according to Panes, integrates data gathering from health laboratories and citizen self-reporting.