Two Daanbantayan children dead: Dengue continues to claim lives

CEBU, Philippines - Dengue has claimed another life, this time that of a four-year old girl in Barangay Poblacion, Daanbantayan town in northern Cebu.

According to the Municipal Health Office, this was the first mortality among 58 laboratory-confirmed dengue cases recorded in the town since January this year.

Another child of the same age reportedly died after suffering symptoms similar to that of dengue, but the case needs confirmation.

Daanbantayan Rural Health Unit nurse Charisse Diamos told The FREEMAN that the victims, identified as Gian Lee Misa, and Trishia Castro, had manifested symptoms of dengue, including high fever, before they were brought to the hospital on Friday and Monday, respectively.

Quoting the victim’s mother, Diamos said Gian was complaining of stomachache and diarrhea prior to his death.

Eventually, the boy suffered from convulsions, which prompted his mother to rush him to the nearest district hospital. Gian was declared dead on arrival at the Daanbantayan District Hospital.

Diamos said Trishia, who was referred to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City, also died a day after her admission.

She said only Trishia was made to undergo laboratory test, which showed she had dengue.

“Wala namo na-laboratory si Gian Lee. Amo gi-consider nga dengue case based sa symptoms,” she said over the phone.

VSMMC spokesman Nonoy Mongaya, however, said there were no dengue patients from Daanbantayan admitted in the hospital.

The Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the Department of Health-7, however, also said it has yet to receive any report on dengue fatalities from the northern town.

Flora Cuyos, another staff nurse at Daanbantayan District Hospital, however, confirmed the death of the two children, adding that one of them died at VSMMC.

She also said that majority of the dengue cases reported in Daanbantayan were from Barangay Poblacion.

In a separate interview, Daanbantayan Mayor Augusto Corro said he convened yesterday the town’s disaster risk reduction and management council to craft measures and programs to intensify efforts directed at eradicating dengue.

He said the disaster council recommended the declaration of a state of calamity in the town, noting the significant increase in number of dengue cases reported this year.

The declaration would be discussed during the municipal council regular session today.

Corro urged his constituents to immediately seek medical attention when experiencing prolonged fever and to undergo laboratory test, which is free of charge for indigent patients at the town’s rural health unit.

Dengue is an acute mosquito-borne viral illness. Its symptoms include high fever that could last until two to seven days; pain behind the eyes and in the joints, muscles, and bones; rashes over most of the body; severe headache; and mild bleeding from the nose or gums.

Diamos said she was alarmed by the number of dengue cases this year, which is 480 percent higher than last year’s 10 with no deaths.

Following the deaths of the two children, Daanbantayan’s health personnel and the local government unit employees conducted misting operations in Poblacion and other areas identified as having possible breeding grounds of dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

Diamos said they have also intensified their cleanliness and information drive against dengue.

This was in response to the Department of Health directive encouraging the academe, local government units, local health units, and government and state-run health centers to join in region-wide efforts to lessen dengue cases.

In particular DOH-7 has advised the public to cover stored water, which should be replaced regularly to prevent them from becoming breeding sites of dengue-causing mosquitoes.

 DOH-7 also pushed for a household-based action by urging families to practice the daily “4 o’clock habit” by searching inside and outside their homes for possible breeding places of mosquitoes. — /RHM (FREEMAN)