Consolacion boy, 4, dies from dengue; toll hits 33

Dengue has again claimed another life, that of a 4-year-old boy from Consolacion, which brought the number of dengue fatalities to 33, from January to August 5 this year, according to the Department of Health.

Reynan Cimafranca, epidemiologist of the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit, said the boy died last week at the hospital.

Cimafranca said that RESU-7 files this year recorded a total of 1458 dengue cases admitted to various RESU hospitals in the region.

This number is however lower than the 1,600 cases registered in the same period last year. But he said that last year's trend showed that dengue cases rise in August.

The rainy season usually starts in June and dengue cases have been noted to start increasing also-a situation that has been seen true in other parts of the country also, said Cimafranca.

Stagnant waters during rainy season serves as an ideal habitat and place for laying eggs for dengue-carrying mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti).

Cimafranca warned, "If the public will not intensively continue to implement environmental sanitation in their community, dengue and other vector-borne diseases will continue to rise in the next few weeks."

Dengue hemorrhagic fever is a severe illness, these mosquitoes transmit, which proves fatal when treated late. It has been found to afflict mostly children, aged 11 years old and below.

The public's lack of knowledge about dengue fever has resulted in their exposure to transmission of the disease, prompting the DOH to call on local governments to step up their respective information campaigns about dengue, and the ways of eliminating breeding places of these mosquitoes. - Jasmin R. Uy