NEARLY A year ago, in October 2009, Department of Health records indicated there were 5,212 cases of Influenza A(H1N1) infections in the Philippines, of which 30 people were confirmed to have died.

Back then, the fear and hysteria over the spread of the A(H1N1) virus was immediate and palpable. As early as May 2009, the World Health Organization had raised a pandemic alert over the virus, with more than 40 countries announcing outbreaks of swine flu in their backyards from the time the disease was first detected in Mexico. A few months later, US President Barack Obama also declared the swine flu surge in his country a national emergency. The Philippines, for its part, geared for the worst by placing an order with the WHO for some P100 million worth of vaccines, instituting large-scale testing and monitoring of possible new infections, and intensifying a national campaign to encourage people to practice good respiratory hygiene and maintain clean surroundings to stanch the spread of the virus.

Contrast all that buzz and activity with the relative absence now of blaring headlines or airwave chatter on the truly alarming spate of recent infections and deaths in the country arising from another scourge: dengue fever. The latest DOH reports say more than 62,500 Filipinos have been downed by the lethal disease since January this year, up by a jolting 88 percent for the same period in 2009. Out of that number, at least 465 deaths have been tallied across the country.

That?s 465 fatalities versus 30 for the swine flu outbreak. But where the volume of hyperactive commentary, and sometimes fear-mongering, on the A(H1N1) cases was deafening, hardly anything of comparable impact has been heard so far regarding the dengue epidemic, despite its apparently more insidious mortality record. This is not, of course, to diminish the deaths of human beings in either case, but only to point out that the current dengue spasm ravaging many parts of the country deserves as much high-level scrutiny and forewarning as the earlier flu outbreak.

Such badly needed attention, unfortunately, has been the casualty of the country?s bread-and-circuses state of mind in the past year or so. Filipinos have had a good serving of distractions lately, beginning with the election campaign fiesta, the unexpectedly swift voting and counting, the heady days of the presidential inauguration and the move to Malacañang by a new dispensation, all the way down to the rude awakening over official thievery courtesy of government functionaries with excessive perks, and, most recently, the global outrage triggered by an ex-cop?s bloody hostage-taking of tourists?and the local police?s bungled response to it.

With these convulsive events dominating the news cycle, the flight of the deadly dengue-carrying mosquito across the predominantly poorer parts of the country has been mostly overlooked, its gravity diminished by public indifference, until too late. Eastern Visayas, for instance, has logged a 31 percent increase in cases this year from 2009 figures, with confirmed deaths at 70. Other regions heavily afflicted by the disease include Western Visayas, Soccsksargen, Calabarzon, Eastern Visayas, Davao, Northern Mindanao and the urban poor communities of Metro Manila.

More than alarming, the figures are tragic, because dengue is, in fact, an easily preventable disease. The epidemic is not an inevitable part of this country being tropical, or even poor. The DOH?s anti-dengue warnings consist of activities that require no herculean effort, among them searching for and destroying the breeding grounds of mosquitoes, such as swamps and standing water; protecting one?s self by using mosquito nets, repellents and protective clothing; and seeking immediate medical treatment when flu-like signs and symptoms appear.

The continued spread of the disease makes it clear that the DOH needs to rev up its awareness campaign, especially in communities with potentially greater risk of infection. The burgeoning number of cases, if left unchecked, will overburden the public health system and lead to more costly complications.

While the government remains preoccupied with the aftermath of the Quirino Grandstand tragedy, it needs to pay attention to the no less dangerous threat brought about by the Aedes aegypti mosquito on the lives and health of ordinary Filipinos. It has to bang the drum more loudly and urgently?no bungling here, please?because, quite simply, this is a matter of life and death.