DAGUPAN CITY— A health official inPangasinan advised people to avoid getting frogs for food as these are helpful in the fight against the spread of the dreaded dengue hemorrhagic fever.

Dr. George Calugay, team leader of the Department of Health’s monitoring team in Pangasinan on dengue cases, told local newsmen in a forum the other day here that frogs are natural enemies of mosquitoes and if people get, cook and eat
them, “you are destroying the ecological balance”.

Some Filipinos love eating frogs cooked as either adobo, tinola or deep- fried.

He added that spiders and house lizards are predators of mosquitoes.

Even with already three deaths and 208 cases of dengue fever from January to July across the province, health officials assured that this is still way below the registered number of cases last year.

Dr. Anna de Guzman, assistant provincial health officer, said that dengue cases across the province registered its highest in 2001 with 1,222 confirmed cases with five deaths and in 2005 with 1,051 with eight deaths.

This year, the three casualties were from Alaminos City, Sison and Basista towns.

Dr. Jesus Canto, hospital director of the government-owned Region 1 Medical Center in this city, corroborated de Guzman’s report that indeed admission of patients suspected to have been afflicted of dengue hemorrhagic fever is not alarming compared with last year’s record.

“The basis for an alarm is admission of patients in our hospital because it is where most patients in the province are confined,” Canto said. He said from January to June, there were only 43 admissions and with the heavy rains last month, they have observed only one or two admissions daily due to dengue.

“You don’t only consider the number of patients admitted for a particular disease but also the magnitude in a particular area,” Canto said in declaring an outbreak.

He advised people ”not to be paranoid” when they have fever and conclude hastily it’s dengue but cautioned them to observe proper medication, too. He said people should maintain cleanliness in their surroundings.

De Guzman said there is no basis for the declaration of an outbreak with the present data of patients suspected or confirmed to have been afflicted with dengue.

She added that in 2002, there were 65 cases, in 2003 there were 288 and in 2004 there were 660.

Citing Dr. Ricardo’s Index for the basis of outbreak and epidemic
declaration, she said that one should take the five years average of diseases, take the second to the highest and second to the lowest the add the numbers and divide them by two.

Calugay added that Aedes aegypti, the type of mosquito in the country with white silver spots on its belly that causes dengue when it bites a person, are intelligent mosquitoes because they bite the person’s unexposed body parts. He added that unlike the other types of mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti bite without making a humming sound.

DAGUPAN CITY—Five dolphins were seen along the coastal waters here the other day and two of them beached. However one died while the other was wounded but released back to the sea while the rest casually swam back.

Dr. Westly Rosario, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) center chief here, told this writer that before lunch Saturday, Emma Molina, the city agriculturist reported to him about one wounded dolphin which was kept inside an empty fish cage in Bonuan Sabangan here.

Rosario instructed his aquaculturist Rocky Ferrer who was trained about caetaceans (whales and dolphins) to look into the dolphin’s condition and to give the necessary medical aid.

After treating the bottle-nosed dolphin (Stenella longinostris), grayish in color, with whitish belly and about four feet long, it was brought back to the sea.

But based on the account of a certain Charlie Dacanay, a beachgoer, he allegedly saw five dolphins.

Later, about 5:00 p.m. Saturday, the maritime police went to the BFAR center here located in Bonuan Binloc to turn over another dolphin which had also bullet wounds. It was believed that this is part of the group of five of dolphins sighted along Bonuan area that day.

However, while Rosario was giving instructions to his men on what to do about it, the second dolphin died and was buried inside the 500 square-meter lot whales and dolphins cemetery inside the BFAR compound.

Rosario appealed to the people not to harm these sea animals especially that there are three more in the group which are believed to be swimming around the area.

Several dolphins and whales sharks have been sighted along the coastal areas here and in the towns of Binmaley, Lingayen and San Fabian. Some of them beached after being wounded with gun shots. Some were successfully treated and brought back to the sea while others died.

URDANETA CITY—The Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) based here and the local government unit in this city launched the other day “Sagipin ang Puno, Mag Ipon ng Diaryo” that aims to establish socialized fuel plantations that will provide alternative livelihood source for charcoal makers while saving public forests from proceeds of selling old newspapers.

Mayor Amadeo Perez Jr lauded the Department of Environment and Natural Resources under Leduina Co, CENRO head in this city, for this “very worthy project”.

Co admitted that they now have zero budget for reforestation since 2003, or if at all there is fund available, it can only reforest 10 hectares every year compared to the 49,000 hectares of forest lands under her jurisdiction that covers 15 towns and this city in eastern Pangasinan.

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