DOH-7 January to August report: Dengue cases in Central Visayas increase by 151%

CEBU, Philippines - Attributing it to the recent changing weather, the Department of Health-7 has reported a 151 percent increase in dengue cases in Central Visayas from January to August this year compared to the same period last year.

Records of the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of DOH-7 showed that a total of 9,372 cases including 81 deaths were reported from January to August 13 this year compared to the same period last year which was only 3,740 cases with 19 deaths.

Mostly affected by the disease were those in the 1-5 years old age group, with majority of the cases from Cebu City (1,328), followed by Mandaue City (424), Toledo City (369), Lapu-Lapu City (283) and Balamban (280).

Other cities and municipalities with a number of dengue cases are Liloan (239), Bais City (231), Bayawan City (219), Carcar City (215), Talisay City (204), Consolacion (203), Dumaguete City (196), Cordova (151), Naga City (140), Danao City (138), Tagbilaran City (133), San Fernando (129), Siaton, Negros Oriental (129), Tubigon, Bohol (121), and Mabinay, Negros Oriental (119).

The Cebu Provincial Health Office has raised the alert level for Balamban, Carcar and Bogo cities to code white due to the number of patients admitted with dengue.

According to Dr. Ismael Pastor of CPHO, code white means hospital personnel, in coordination with municipal health officers, are on standby for possible admissions.

Pastor said they have already sent teams to assist municipal hospitals in code white as the number of patients has gone beyond the hospital's bed capacity.

He also said that misting operations have been arranged in affected areas to prevent further increase in dengue cases.

Pastor further encouraged the public to clean their surroundings.

"Kay bisag unsaon og misting kung mao gihapon, hugaw , manglimpyo g'yud. Labi na karon moulan, moinit, mao g'yud na'y ganahan sa lamok," he said.

Meanwhile, the Mandaue City Health Department has conducted misting operation at the Cebu International Convention Center where victims of fire that hit barangays Guizo and Mantuyong are temporarily staying after a confirmed dengue case was recorded.

City Health Officer Edna Seno said the misting operation was to prevent the escalation of the dengue disease to endemic level at CICC. It was done in all five camps currently being occupied by the fire evacuees.

Seno said she decided to have all the camps sprayed after a two-year-old boy was brought to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center last Monday. The boy was confirmed to have contracted the dengue hay fever.

More than the misting, Seno said that the most important strategy to combat dengue is a unified and mass cleanup drive by the community.

The health department went camp to camp distributing flyers to the fire evacuees, while some collected larva from stagnant water to determine whether these are the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus species that carry the dengue virus.

Seno attributes the increase to the recent weather changes, especially last July wherein the flooding in the city took a couple of days to subside. (FREEMAN)