Summary Input from the Guest Speaker

The speaker discussed about Mosquito-Borne Diseases, specifically about

Dengue fever and an overview of other mosquito-borne diseases such as Chikungunya,
Zika and Japanese Encephalitis due to the existence of reported cases in Davao City.
Mosquitoes are one of the deadliest animals in the world. Their ability to carry and
spread disease to humans causes millions of deaths every year. The diseases Dengue,
Zika and Chikungunya are all transmitted to humans by the Aedes aegypti mosquito,
while Japanese encephalitis is transmitted by Culex tritaeniorhynchus mosquito. The
speaker discussed about the life cycle of the mosquito and highlighted that the City
Health Office will take action while the it is still a larvae and pupae and prevent it
from growing into an adult mosquito-- in which it can lay eggs at least three times and
can lay more than one hundred eggs in its average lifespan of two weeks. Dengue is
caused by Dengue Virus of the Flaviviridae family and there are four distinct
serotypes of the virus that can cause dengue and mentioned that the DEN-2&3 are
among the most common serotype of reported cases of Dengue in Davao City.
Dengue virus is transmitted by female mosquitoes mainly of the species Aedes
aegypti which is the primary vector and Aedes albopictus which is the secondary
vector. The cycle of dengue starts with an uninfected Aedes aegypti and Aedes
albopictus mosquito which encounters an infected person with dengue, this uninfected
mosquito is now infected with the dengue virus throughout its lifespan and will later
on spread or transmit the dengue virus to other humans. These mosquitoes can be
identified by the white stripes on their black bodies and legs. They are aggressive
daytime biters, with peak feeding activity at dawn and dusk. The guest speaker
mentioned that there is no problem with the existence of these mosquitoes as long as
there are no infected human with dengue virus because these uninfected mosquitoes
can acquire dengue virus by biting infected persons with dengue virus, which in the
latter spread the dengue virus to other uninfected persons. The signs and symptoms of
Dengue fever such as high fever, headache, joint and muscle pain, rashes, severe
diarrhea, vomiting circulatory problems and hepatomegaly appear after 4-10 days
from the bite of the mosquito, and these symptoms lasts for 2-7 days. People who are
alreay infected with the dengue virus can transmit the infection for 4-5 days in a
maximum of 12 days. There are classifications of Dengue, from suspected dengue
case and dengue without warning signs that can be managed in the outpatient
department and will undergo observation at home and follow up check ups, dengue
with warning signs and severe dengue that needs hospital admission. Dengue fever
laboratory tests are Dengue IgM and IgG, Dengue NS1 and for the confirmatory tests
the Polymerase Chain Reaction and Dengue Viral Culture tests. There is no specific
treatment for dengue fever, the advise is maintenance of the patient’s body fluid
volume is critical in dengue care. The City Health Office representative highlighted
the 4S against dengue campaign of the DOH which stands for (1) Suyurin at sirain
and pinamumugaran ng mga lamok, (2) Sarili ay protekatahan laban sa lamok, (3)
Sumanguni agad asa pagamutan kapag may sintomas na ng dengue and (4) Sumuporta
sa fogging/spraying kapag may banta na ng outbreak. If a person is having fever for
two days already, they are advised to consult their doctors. To end dengue, the
community must work together and start withing their own houses, within their
selves.