Over 11,000 dengue cases recorded in Region 12

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  – Health officials in Region 12 have listed a total of 11, 020 dengue cases --- with 56 fatalities --- from January to early October this year, The Star learned Wednesday.

Jenny Ventura, chief information officer of the Department of Health in Region 12, said North Cotabato, which covers 17 towns and Kidapawan City, still has the highest prevalence of dengue cases in the region since the last three quarters.

Ventura said the dengue cases they have recorded from January 1 to early October 2013 was “233 percent higher" than  the 2012 documented cases of the mosquito-borne disease.

The dengue cases in Kidapawan City account for 27 percent of the 11,020 cases in the past nine months.

The adjoining South Cotabato province and Gen. Santos City also had high dengue prevalence during the period.

The South Cotabato-Gen. Santos area accounts for 24 percent of the total number of people in Region 12 that got infected with dengue virus in recent months this year.

The DOH-12 covers the adjoining North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Saranggani, and Sultan Kudarat provinces, and the cities of Koronadal, Kidapawan, Tacurong, Cotabato and Gen. Santos.

Ventura, citing data provided by the Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit, said 21 patients in Gen. Santos succumbed to Dengue.

Gen. Santos City, thus, posted the highest number of recorded deaths from dengue from January 1 to early October 2013.

Gen. Santos City had 15 dengue deaths in 2012, according to Ventura.

Sarangani province had 13 dengue fatalities in the past nine months, higher by almost three folds if compared to the area’s four recorded deaths in 2012.

Ventura said North Cotabato had 11 dengue deaths in recent months.

Health workers in North Cotabato had listed a total of 3,010 dengue patients in the area in the past nine months, higher than its 1, 300 cases last year.

Ventura said Region 12 had a total of 3,407 dengue cases last year.

Ventura said the DOH-12 has stepped up its anti-Dengue operations in areas where they have recorded high prevalence of the viral disease in recent months.