TOTAL IN CEBU CITY NOW 21: Dengue takes lives of two more kids

CEBU, Philippines - A sophomore student of the Cebu City National Science High School is one of two latest deaths of the dreaded dengue fever in Cebu City.

This brings the number of casualties to 21 for this year.

Jedidiah Phebe Aliño, 13, died at the Visayas Community Medical Center last Monday night after 11 days of confinement.

The other dengue-related casualty is Keir Arjie Pleños, 10, who died last August 21, a day after he was taken to the Miller Sanitarium Hospital along Tres de Abril Street.

The nurse of CCNSHS said that aside from Aliño, there are two other students who have been afflicted with dengue and that they are still confined in two private hospitals in the city.

The FREEMAN learned that the personnel of the Cebu City Health have scheduled mist spraying at the government high school in barangay Labangon.

But the school authorities said it is not confirmed yet whether the concerned students contracted the virus in school.

Aliño is the first casualty from barangay Luz, one of the urban barangays of the North District.

The barangays that have dengue casualties are Camputhaw with 3; Labangon, 3; Guadalupe, 2; Lorega, 2; Carreta, 2; Mambaling, 2, and one each from barangays Talamban, Basak-San Nicolas, Tisa, Luz, Pardo, Binaliw and Sudlon II.

The 21 dengue casualties in Cebu City from January are still lower compared to the number of dengue-related deaths last year.

Meanwhile, congressional aspirant Jonathan “Atan” Guardo yesterday decided to complement the City Health’s activities in conducting information campaign to teach the public on how to fight against dengue.

But Guardo explained that his initiative is not to compete with the city’s activity, but just to complement their programs.

Guardo has decided to launch a dengue-information campaign after he visited the wake of an 11-year-old boy in Tisa who reportedly succumbed to the complications of dengue hemorrhagic fever.

City Health officials said that they are still investigating on the report that there is another casualty of dengue in Tisa. Records showed that only one child there died because of dengue. – Rene U. Borromeo/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)