Dengue cases declining but epidemic not over — DOH

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) is not yet seeing the end of the dengue epidemic as it documented a total of almost 250,000 cases as of Aug. 24, an official said yesterday.

DOH Undersecretary Eric Domingo said that although the rate of increase is slowly declining, it is not yet time to take back the national dengue epidemic that the agency declared on Aug. 6.

“Not yet. The number of  cases being reported on a weekly basis had decreased, but 10 regions remain above the epidemic threshold,” he said during the DOH Media Forum yesterday.

These regions include the National Capital Region, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), Bicol, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos) and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Latest data from the DOH-Epidemiology Bureau show there were 249,332 dengue cases reported from Jan. 1 to Aug. 24, including 1,021 deaths.

The figure is higher than the 119,224 cases recorded during the same period in 2008. Death toll at the time was 622.

Domingo said the country may still see a spike in cases come October and November as these months are still considered rainy season.

“As long as there is community transmission, we can’t say it’s under control… We have to be on guard against dengue until the end of the year,” he said.

To effectively contain dengue, Domingo reiterated the DOH’s calls to scale up their campaign against the mosquito-borne disease by eliminating all possible breeding sites of mosquitoes.

“We understand that it could sometimes be tiring. Even us would sometimes feel that. But the threat of dengue continues so we have to scale up efforts,” he said.