DAVAO CITY – The City Health Office (CHO) is urging the public to get free mosquito-controlling traps from main health centers here to sustain the decrease of dengue cases in the city.
A Philippine Information Agency dispatch said records from the CHO indicate that there are 1,140 dengue cases as of May this year, while 1,960 cases were recorded in the same period last year.
There are only two recorded cases of dengue-related deaths that occurred from January to May this year, compared to 36 deaths last year.
Elizabeth Banzon, chief of the City Health Office Tropical Disease Control said the trap is free for residents as it is a part of Davao City’s dengue control program.
Banzon said the reduction is due to “a sustained awareness campaign with the help of the local media and the participation of concerned citizens particularly in its clean-up drives.”
The OL (Ovicidal/Larvicidal) Trap is a contraption developed by the Department of Science and Technology and distributed by the Department of Health.
The trap kit consists of four containers, four “lawanit” strips and a sachet of larvicide (a solution that kills the larvae of mosquitoes).
The trap remains in effect for four months but the larvicide solution can last for a month before the container is cleaned and replenished.
“The scent of the larvicide solution will attract dengue-carrying Aedes mosquitoes to lay eggs in the lawanit. Once the eggs hatched, the larva is killed by the solution placed in the container,” said the report.
Banzon said the containers should be placed in parts of the house where mosquitoes breed.
