LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — The Provincial Health Office (PHO) has confirmed that the number of dengue cases in Pangasinan increased by 300 percent from January 1 to February 5 this year compared to the number of cases reported for the same period in 2017.
Dr. Anna Ma. Teresa de Guzman, provincial health officer, revealed that for the first 36 days of 2018, her office already registered 534 cases of dengue with two deaths, adding that at least 200 of these cases were registered only last week.
She added that for the same period last year, PHO registered only 140 dengue cases.
Among the areas placed under tight watch by PHO for their high incidence of dengue are Urdaneta City which registered 82; Binmaley, 40; Sta. Barbara, 37; Lingayen, 30; Binalonan, 26; Pozorrubio, 24; Mangaldan, 29; Asingan, 22; and Bayambang, 20.
Meanwhile, Dagupan City, which is not under the political jurisdiction of Pangasinan, registered the highest number of dengue cases for the same period this year at 50.
De Guzman, however, allayed fears there is now an epidemic of dengue in the province because of the sudden surge of the disease during the more than one month period of 2018.
She attributed the sudden increase of cases to the frequent rains as the water that gathered in canals, creeks, leaves of trees, bottles, garbage dumps and even in discarded car tires on roofs of houses become breeding places for mosquitoes that carry the dengue virus.
The PHO thus again called on the people to clean their houses and surroundings and remove the lagged off rainwater in their surroundings to be safe from dengue.
At the same time, De Guzman advised towns and cities with high incidence of dengue to undertake misting operations and not fogging as they have not observed any clustering of dengue cases in communities. (Leonardo Micua/PNA)
