TACLOBAN City, July 22, 2010— The Catholic Church has called on the people to support the government’s anti-dengue campaign.

The Archdiocese of Palo made the call Thursday after it received reports about an increase in the number of dengue cases in the region.

Fr. Amadeo Alvero, archdiocese’s spokesman, said that recognizing the importance of maintaining clean surroundings would help boost the campaign to keep the number of dengue cases down.

“We urge everyone to adopt the callings of the Department of Health (DOH) to practice the practical ways of eradicating the disease,” he said.

The priest was referring to the four strategies imposed by DOH-8 to fight dengue – 1) search and destroy mosquito breeding sites, 2) self protection measures like using mosquito nets, 3) seeking early treatment, and 4) no indiscriminate fogging.

Local health authorities earlier rejected calls by local government units to use thermal fogging to combat the growing number of deaths caused by dengue.

Boyd Cerro, regional sentinel nurse of the Department of Health in the region, said doing such is highly impractical.

The dengue situation in the region, according to him, can still be prevented by other practical means.

“Fogging is only advisable in highly-concentrated areas where there are already outbreaks in the dengue case,” Cerro said.

In Eastern Visayas, the Department of Health classifies the latest figure with more than 4,486 cases and 56 deaths since January as under the “epidemic scale.”

This means that to declare an outbreak, there must be clustering of cases in significant areas, Cerro said.

“In this case, fogging is not needed because there is no clustering. But, since our case is still manageable and can be prevented to ballon, other practical measures will do,” he stressed.

He explained that fogging is not necessary because of its risks that may give to the residents concerned.

Fogging, using the nauseous gas Malathion, is used to kill the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the carrier of the dengue virus, to stop transmission of the disease. The chemical contains toxins that may cause intestinal problems, brain damage, respiratory problems, among others.

However, Cerro said that it does not totally eradicate the dengue-carrying mosquito as it just transfers to other place which had not been fogged.

“It is useless because it just kills the adult mosquito but leaves the “kiti-kiti” (mosquito larvae) to thrive,” he explained.

“We recommend of having more effective dengue prevention and controlling program rather than use the fogging method which is highly risky to health and environment,” he added.

Fr. Alvero said they support the health department’s position, saying that relying to thermal fogging would just create another problem.

He said that this would only “give the people a sense of complacency that may lower their guards against the dreaded disease and the dengue mosquito.” (Alvin P. Cardines)