The World Health Organization (WHO) recently issued a warning that due to climate change, the mosquito-borne dengue disease has become unstoppable.

Inflicting itself on over 50 million individuals worldwide, with over 24,000 mortalities a year, the WHO says global warming has resulted in increased mosquito populations and global health experts have advised nations to institute more aggressive elimination drives to stem the disease.

The World Health Organization said tropical countries like the Philippines are particularly at risk.

With no existing vaccine to immunize populations against the disease, dengue fever has been on the rise in the country recently.

Transmitted through the bite of the Stegomyia albopticus (formerly known as Aedes Aegypti) mosquito, dengue fever is characterized by a sudden onset of fever, weakness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, eye, joint, and muscle pain, and rashes. There are four known strains of dengue, considered the second deadliest mosquito-borne disease next to malaria.

Aside from climactic changes, the major drivers of global dengue are population growth, modern transportation, and lack of effective mosquito control. The last cause has prompted local medical experts, especially the Department of Health, to call on communities to wage an honest-to-goodness mosquito control campaign, constantly cleaning all possible areas that would generate mosquitoes.

The DoH called on communities to be more sensitive to the need for sanitary conditions in their areas and even more sensitive to the symptoms of the illness that must be immediately addressed.

The DoH has been working with local governments and community leaders to eliminate stagnant water and other possible mosquito breeding sites. Because of the continuing anti-dengue campaign, the number of reported dengue cases in the country has declined, with a 37 percent decrease in cases last August from the same period last year. As of September 1, there were a total of 16, 317 dengue cases reported nationwide, compared 25,969 reported for the same period last year.

While dengue cases may have been spawned by the global problem of climactic change, this should not stop communities from taking on both preventive and education campaigns to reduce the incidences of morbidity and mortality caused by the disease.