Diarrhea, dengue outbreak during El Niño possible –DOH

The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday cautioned the public against certain diseases that may become prevalent throughout the El Niño season.

At a press conference, Health Secretary Ted Herbosa stressed that “weather affects health,” the public should thus be on guard against vector-borne diseases like dengue, and waterborne diseases like cholera.

“I will order our disaster program to actually look into this para ma-address. Hindi ito kagaya ng bagyo. It’s insidious, mas mabagal, so the effects are kinda huli na ‘pag nalaman mo. It’s better to be prepared of these hazards of El Niño,” he said.

(I will order our disaster program to look into this so it can be addressed. It's not like a typhoon. It's insidious, slower, so the effects are a bit late when you find out.)

Last week, state weather bureau PAGASA declared the start of El Niño—a phenomenon characterized by the abnormal warming of sea surface temperature in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and below-normal rainfall.

DOH spokesperson Undersecretary Enrique Tayag recalled that there was a dengue fever outbreak amid the El Niño in 1998.

“Kapag El Niño kasi, ang tendency ng mga tao ay mag-igib ng tubig. So marami tayong water containers na ‘yun ang nagiging breeding places ng mga lamok. Kung titignan parang paradox—merong tag-tuyot eh ba’t nagkaron ng dengue,” he explained.

(During an El Niño, people have the tendency to collect water. So we have many water containers that become breeding places for mosquitoes. It’s paradoxical - it’s a dry season, but there's a dengue outbreak.)

Based on the DOH’s latest epidemic-prone disease case surveillance report, there are 72,333 dengue cases recorded from January 1 to June 17, 2023, which is 14% higher than the 63,526 cases logged during the same period in 2022.

There were 249 deaths due to dengue this year - a 0.3% case fatality rate.

Furthermore, there were 371 cases of chikungunya, another vector-borne disease, registered so far in 2023.

As for food and water-borne illnesses, typhoid fever topped the list with 8,696 cases logged from January 1 to June 17, 2023.

This was followed by acute bloody diarrhea with 6,829 cases; rotavirus with 2,232 cases; and cholera with 2,125 cases.

Tayag said that the Health Secretary had released guidelines for hospitals to follow this El Niño and with a water crisis looming.

“Imo-monitor din namin ‘yung galawan sa merkado, ‘yung presyo ng mga gamot, para nang sa ganon ay hindi mag-take advantage… Isa ‘yan sa aming ina-anticipate na,” he added.

(We will also monitor the movement in the market, the price of medicines, so that no one will take advantage of the situation... That is one of the things we are anticipating.) — DVM, GMA Integrated News