Dengue claims 13 livesin Ilocos

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union — Thirteen people, mostly children, have died due to infections brought by dengue-carrying mosquitoes and the number of victims in the Ilocos region has reached 1,259.

Dr. Cherry Versola-Pekas, officer-in-charge of the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU) of the Department of Health in Region 1, told The STAR that the number of deaths now matches the total number of casualties in 2004.

Pekas said that as of their September 2005 list, Pangasinan has reported 749 cases with seven deaths. This was followed by La Union with 342 cases and one death. Ilocos Norte has 96 cases with three deaths and Ilocos Sur has 74 caseswith two deaths.

Pekas added that the number of cases to date is now close to the 1,482 cases reported last year but she said she is hoping it would not reach the same record because the Department of Health and local officials are implementing programs that seek to prevent the proliferation of dengue mosquitoes.

She said blood samples taken from all probable dengue victims are brought to the St. Lukes Hospital in Manila for confirmation.

She added that they had improved the gathering of dengue cases through the establishment of teams going to various hospitals in the region to get records of dengue patients and they had also updated their list with the regular reporting of provincial health offices. — Jun Elias