Dengue cases down in QC

Dengue cases in Quezon City has significantly dropped from 1,578 from January to August last year to only 486 cases in the same period this year, the city health department reported yesterday.

Dr. Ma Paz Ugalde said fatalities were also lower from 34 last year to only 15 this year.

She clarified reports that claimed there were 15 dengue-related deaths in just one month alone.

"There was only one dengue-related death for the month of August," Ugalde said.

The city health officer said they had been coordinating with public and private hospitals and the city registrar’s office to get copies of death certificates of dengue-related deaths.

Ugalde said that as far as their monitoring is concerned, there have been no confirmed dengue deaths in the last month when an outbreak was reported in Barangay Pag-Asa.

She said that what was reported in the media were patients from the provinces that had returned to their places of origin.

Even the city department of social services, which had coordinated with several hospitals, said the result of their investigation showed there were no admissions.

"There were no admissions or consultations with the St. Luke’s Medical Center of patients suspected of having dengue," social services chief Teresa Mariano said.

Belmonte has directed the agencies concerned to conduct a massive information drive on the role of residents in preventing dengue carrying mosquitoes from breeding in their respective area.

Ugalde noted that the number of reported cases peaks during the months of June to August, or the onset of the rainy season. — Perseus Echeminada