Search

Dengue Fever

farooq ahmed
Jul 6, 2017
2 min read

Dengue (pronounced DENgee) fever is a painful, debilitating mosquito-borne disease caused by any one of four closely related dengue viruses. These viruses are related to the viruses that cause West Nile infection and yellow fever.

An estimated 390 million dengue infections occur worldwide each year, with about 96 million resulting in illness. Most cases occur in tropical areas of the world, with the greatest risk occurring in:

The Indian subcontinent

Southeast Asia
Southern China
Taiwan
The Pacific Islands
The Caribbean (except Cuba and the Cayman Islands)
Mexico
Africa
Central and South America (except Chile, Paraguay, and Argentina)

Most cases in the United States occur in people who contracted the infection while traveling abroad. But the risk is increasing for people living along the Texas-Mexico border and in other parts of the southern United States. In 2009, an outbreak of dengue fever was identified in Key West, Fla.

DENGUE PREVENTION AND CONTROL PROGRAM

The National Dengue Prevention and Control Program was first initiated by the Department of Health (DOH) in 1993. Region VII and the National Capital Region served as the pilot sites. It was not until 1998 when the program was implemented nationwide. The target populations of the program are the general population, the local government units, and the local health workers.

Vision: Dengue Risk-Free Philippines

Mission: To improve the quality of health of Filipinos by adopting an integrated dengue control approach in the prevention and control of dengue infection.

Goal: Reduce morbidity and mortality from dengue infection by preventing the transmission of the virus from the mosquito vector human.

Objectives:

The objectives of the program are categorized into three: health status objectives; risk reduction objectives; and services & protection objectives.

Health Status Objectives:

Reduce incidence from 32 cases/100,000 population to 20 cases/100,000 population;
Reduce case fatality rate by <1%; and
Detect and contain all epidemics.

Risk Reduction Objectives:

Reduce the risk of human exposure to aedes bite by House index of <5 and Breteau index of 20;
Increase % of HH practicing removal of mosquito breeding places to 80%; and
Increase awareness on DF/DHF to 100%.

Services & Protection Objectives:

Establish a Dengue Reference Laboratory capable of performing IgM capture ELISA for Dengue Surveillance;
Increase the % of 1° and 2° government hospitals with laboratory capable of platelet count and hematocrit; and
Ensure surveillance and investigation of all epidemics.