PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — The province of Palawan has posted an increase of 239 percent in dengue cases, with four deaths in eight months this year.
The rate represents 1,228 cases from 22 municipalities in the province from January to August, Provincial Health Office (PHO) disease surveillance officer Lorna Loor said.
Loor said this is high compared to the 362 cases they had recorded in the same period in 2017. The total number of cases for the said year is 462.
Of the 23 municipalities in Palawan, only the island-municipality of Cagayancillo near Panay did not post any dengue case.
“Noong 2017, ay meron lang 362 cases sa same period na January to August. Pero kung isasama natin ang September ay 1,338 na pero i-va-validate pa yon,” she said Thursday during a Philippine Information Agency (PIA)-hosted “Kapihan.”
Loor said at least 10 new dengue cases are added in their record each week.
In June, she said the province already reached the “epidemic threshold” of having 295 dengue cases.
“Although whole year round ang pagbasa ng kaso, makikita natin na may pagtaas pa rin dahil rainy season talaga (Although the reading is whole year round, we can already see there is an increase because it’s really rainy season),” Loor said.
She said 79.30 percent of the total number of cases were admitted in different public and private hospitals while 20.70 percent were treated in rural health units (RHUs).
“Yan ang kasalukuyang sitwasyon ng dengue sa Palawan mas mataas ngayon kumpara last year. Pero katulad nga ng paulit-ulit namin na sinasabi, ‘yong prevention ay palaging dapat nagsisimula sa mga communities (That is the current situation of dengue affectation in Palawan which is higher this year. But like what we always say, prevention should really start from the communities),” Loor added.
She said the dengue mortalities were recorded from Balabac and Brooke’s Point towns in southern Palawan and Dumaran in the northern part.
The Palawan municipalities that posted the highest cases of the mosquito-borne disease are Taytay with 164, Narra with 137, Dumaran with 129, Brooke’s Point with 114 and Bataraza with 110.
In Puerto Princesa City, where seven dengue-caused deaths had been recorded from March to August, the number of cases has risen to 606, posting an increase of 434 against 2017’s 172 reported incidents, City Health Office (CHO) vector-borne program coordinator Kent Ventura said.
He said the barangays that recorded the most number of dengue cases are San Pedro-76; San Jose-62; San Miguel-60; San Manuel-43; Sicsican-39; Sta. Monica-37; Tiniguiban-36; Bancao-Bancao-34; Mandaragat-19; and Bagong Sikat with 18 cases.
The seven mortalities were recorded by the CHO in Barangays Bagong Sikat, Mangingisda, Cabayugan, Matiyaga, Maunlad, San Jose, and Sta. Lourdes, said Ventura.
He said the CHO has already stepped up its information drive against dengue and has been conducting “misting operations” or the application of water-based insecticide to eliminate the Aedis aegypti mosquitoes that carry the disease. (Celeste Anna Formoso/PNA)
