Region 7’s 2016 dengue cases ‘record-breaking’

CEBU, Philippines - The dengue cases in Central Visayas for 2016 were the highest in the 14 years that the health agency has started documenting these cases.

Based on the data from the surveillance unit of the Department of Health (DOH)-7, the region had a record-breaking 28,995 dengue cases, which claimed 250 lives. 

Last year's numbers aldo doubled the previous year's incidence of 14,458.  Of that number, 87 deaths were recorded for 2015.

Since the DOH-7's Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU) started recording these cases in 2003, last year's dengue cases were the most.

This, after they closed last week its data monitoring for 2016, consolidating all the records from the different disease reporting units, such as hospitals and city or municipal health offices.

In 2012, the region's dengue cases also peaked, nearly reaching the 20,000-mark. It recorded a total of 19,193 cases and 89 deaths.

DOH-7 RESU head Rennan Cimafranca said the total number of dengue cases in 2016 has even doubled as that of the 2015 figure.

Most of the dengue cases were observed in the second half of 2016 when the rainy season started.

There were less dengue cases reported in the first half of the year since the nation was hit by El Niño and the Cebu province suffered from a dry spell.

The 2015-2016 El Niño episodes in the Philippines also caused the delay the onset of the rainy season, which commonly occurs on the last week of May.

Cimfranca said that when Cebu experienced more rainy days, dengue cases also started to increase, which was predictable since mosquitoes breed and grow in stagnant waters.

Based on the health department's data, majority of the cases are reported in the three highly-urbanized cities in Cebu province.

Cebu City recorded the most number of dengue cases for two consecutive years already.

In 2016, Cebu City had at least 4,602 dengue cases and 34 deaths.  It accounted to 16 percent of the overall dengue cases last year.

Cimafranca said that this is expected considering the large population in Cebu City.

He added that there are also instances that residents from the neighboring towns who seek treatment in a Cebu City-based hospital.

Mandaue City followed suit with 1,691 cases and 24 deaths, which is 5.9 percent of the total cases.

Lapu-Lapu City came in third with 1,258 cases and 17 deaths, which was 4.4 percent of the total number.  (FREEMAN)