ILOILO CITY — The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday reported that dengue fever claimed 19 lives in Western Visayas as of June 2 this year.
A total of 2,698 cases of this mosquito-borne disease have been recorded during the same period, said Dr. Rose Marie Lamirez, in-charge of the dengue and malaria program of the Department of Health (DOH) in Region 6.
She said that while it has not reached the 1 percent case fatality rate, health officials are calling on the public to be vigilant because the cases are now at .7 percent.
“Because of the effect of global warming and the effect of technology the mosquitoes also intensify their virulence,” she said.
She added that their thrust is to intensify their awareness drive with the theme “Kung Wala Lamok, Wala Dengue” so as to reduce if not totally eliminate the cases.
Of the recorded cases, the highest came from Negros Occidental with 1,284 cases and 10 deaths.
Aklan has 371 cases; Antique, 201; Guimaras, 17; Iloilo province, 295; Iloilo City, 90; Bacolod City; 256 and others, 37. The others are transients who contacted the disease and were admitted during their visit to Western Visayas.
Meantime, Aklan, Iloilo and others recorded one death each; Antique has two and Bacolod City has four.
The cases were as young as four-month-old children and as old as 78 years old.
Lamirez said that so far there was no outbreak declared in Negros Occidental but six hot spots were identified due to the increasing number of cases in six consecutive weeks.
Also, there was clustering of cases in 30 areas or three to six cases were monitored in the area in four consecutive weeks.
She also warned that mostly affected by the disease are children one to 10 years old.
The highest increase was recorded in Guimaras with 143 percent. She said that last year the province has only seven cases as against the 17 recorded for the same period.
In 2017, DOH recorded 2,150 cases with 22 deaths.
To address the concern, she pointed out that ever since they have been advocating for the 4S or the need to search and destroy the breeding places of mosquitoes; be vigilant of symptoms and seek early treatment; self- protection by wearing protective gears, and say no to indiscriminate fogging.
“We only resort to fogging if needed,” she underscored. ( Perla Lena/PNA)
