Dengue cases in Cebu up 400%

CEBU CITY — The Department of Health’s Central Visayas office warned the other day that dengue cases in the province will reach 5,000 this year if Cebuanos will not heed calls to clean their surroundings.

Juanito Zuasula, the DOH’s regional chief epidemiologist, issued the warning after dengue cases in the province rose by more than 400 percent.

Based on DOH records, dengue cases in Cebu soared to 1,875 from January to Aug. 3, compared to 487 during the same period last year.

Among those infected this year were mostly children aged five to nine. Fifty-three babies up to 11 months also contracted the virus, as well as 377 children aged one to four, and 398 aged 10 to 14.

There have been 18 deaths.

DOH records show that Cebu City has the most number of dengue cases with 1,078; Mandaue City with 149; Talisay City, 91; Lapu-Lapu City, 83; Toledo, 54; and Consolacion, 45.

In Central Luzon, health officials have also stepped up monitoring of dengue cases which, as of Aug. 4, have reached 2,450.

Dr. Jessie Fantone, DOH epidemiologist, said that in July alone, there were 1,303 recorded dengue cases, a huge increase from the 288 cases in July last year.

Dengue is a hemorrhagic fever caused by a virus borne by the Aedes Aegypti, a day-biting mosquito.

Its symptoms include headache, fever, skin rashes, bleeding gums, nose-bleeding and presence of blood in the stool. — Freeman News Service, Ric Sapnu