Wet, unsanitary surroundings linked to death of 2 sisters in barangay Suba, Cebu city
by Nestle L. Semilla
correspondent
The alert is up for dengue cases in Cebu city, with cases exceeding last year’s trend.
The recent death of two sisters, grade school pupils from barangay Suba, was linked to unsanitary,
water-logged surroundings of their home.
Mary Angeline Petallar, 5, and her 8-year-old sister Rianne Abegail died last Friday, a week after they
started experiencing fever. They were admitted in a private hospital on the fourth day, but it was too
late.
Their 13-year-old brother, also down with fever, was declared free of dengue last Saturday night after
a series of blood tests.
Figures of the Cebu City Health Department (CHD) showed there were 831 cases of dengue as of September
compared to 763 cases for the same period of January to September in 2014.
“Alarming? Yes of course because it’s already an epidemic,” said Dr. Daisy Villa, CHD officer in
charge.
Seven people in Cebu City died of dengue so far this year compared to four deaths for the same period
last year, according to the CHD.
The seven fatalities were from barangays Bulacao, Barrio Luz, Guadalupe, Pasil and Suba.
Villa said crowded, unsanitary surroundings was one factor in the dengue cases of the Petallar sisters
girls who live in a place “prone to the breeding of mosquitoes”.
“Dili lang daghan kaayog hugaw, apil ang basa. Naay tubig like hinayhay nga wala mauga kay gamay ang
lugar tungod kay densely populated. Walay init nga makasulod. Ngiob gyud sila,” she said.
(It wasn’t just a dirty place, it was wet. There was water, for example, laundry hanging out that was
still damp because the place is so small and densely populated. No sunlight could enter. It was very
dark.)
The rainy season is another factor, she said, because people would store rainwater.
“We shouldn’t be complacent,” she said.
The Petallar sisters studied in Pasil Elementary School, a neighboring urban poor district.
School principal Lilia Ramirez said that there were 16 dengue cases among their students as of last
Thursday with 11 children from barangay Suba and five from Pasil.
Last September 22, the school was given “impregnated nets” treated with insecticide to screen their
windows during a spot visit by city health personnel and Pasil councilors.
The nets, given by the education division of Cebu City, were installed yesterday.
Ramirez said she was sure the Petallar siblings didn’t get dengue in school.
“Dili gyud to ingon (nakuha nila) sa school kay ang maguwang didto man ang eskwela sa Gothong” she said
(You can’t say they got dengue in school because the eldest sibling, a brother, was studying in Gothong
public school.)
For now, the school is taking preventive measures by encouraging parents to let their girls wear knee
socks and for their boys to wear long pants instead of shorts.
They don’t encourage fogging, because exposure to the chemicals is bad for the children’s health.
She said they focus efforts on eliminating potential breeding places for mosquitoes.
“We told residents in Suba to clean their surroundings. Not just here in Suba but also in Pasil,” she
said because people can’t afford to be complacent.
“Even a small plastic container or bottle ca that holds water can be a breeding ground for mosquito
larvae,” she said.
NO CURE
The City Health Department has enough stock of paracetamol for fever, said Dr. Villa, but in dengue
cases, there is no medicine to give or direct cure.
The patient’s platelet count and hematocrit level has to be constantly monitored in case it drops to
low levels that require a blood transfusion.
Villa said the Petallar girls died of dengue shock, an advanced state of dengue where internal bleeding
occurs. They suffered abdominal pain and vomiting.
“We shouldn’t be complacent about high fever for one or two days. Consult a medical practitioner right
away,” she said.
The Department of Health’s anti-dengue strategy is focused on a 5-S approach.
First, search and destroy mosquito eggs in their breeding grounds. Consult a health center for early
intervention when a family member has fever.
For self-protection, children have to wear long sleeves and long pants in dengue-prone areas.
The community should “say no to fogging” since the use of chemical sprays should be reserved for an
actual outbreak.
“We can’t call this an outbreak because these barngays have had cases in previous years. We only call
it an outbreak if in the last five years, there wasn’t a single case and then dengue occurs,” she said
The last “S” is social mobilization.
Cleaning up the surroundings needs the cooperation of the entrie community, not just the City Health
Department and the barangay.
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