Dengue deaths in Negros reach 27

BACOLOD City, Philippines – The number of dengue deaths in Negros Occidental rose to 27 last week as another eight-year-old boy from E.B. Magalona town died of dengue Friday.

Clark Balolot, a grade two pupil of Nanca Elementary School died Friday at the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City, confirmed E. B. Magalona Mayor David Albert Lacson.

Balolot was the first dengue casualty in E.B. Magalona that has 99 dengue cases this year, its municipal health office records showed.

Relatedly, the trend of dengue fever cases in Negros Occidental is decreasing based on the latest report of the Provincial Health Office last week.

The PHO report showed that dengue cases hit 608 cases in Morbidity Week 32 (Aug. 8 to 14) but it went down to 579 cases in Week 33 (Aug. 15 to 21) and further down to 515 cases in Week 34 (Aug. 22 to 28).

The overall cumulative report, however, showed that dengue cases from Jan. 1 to Aug. 28 have reached 4,676 or a 459 percent increase from 836 cases in the same period last year.

Provincial health officer Ernell Tumimbang earlier said the current cumulative reports were gathered from different public and private hospitals in the province, but most of these patients were already discharged from the hospital.

“The report is a cumulative record so naturally, the number will increase. But if we look at it per morbidity week, the cases have decreased,” he said.

Tumimbang said that considering that Negros Occidental is a big province, the attack rate is still considerably low. He added that the case fatality rate (CFR) is also low and overall, dengue cases here are still manageable.