Dengue cases up by 87%

JUST before the end of the year, the number of dengue cases in Central Visayas has reached 26,670, with 238 deaths, said the Department of Health (DOH) 7.

As of Dec. 24, the number of dengue cases is 87 percent higher compared to same period last year, which had 14,247 cases and 82 deaths.

But Rennan Cimafranca of the DOH 7 Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU) told Sun.Star Cebu that while the number of dengue cases and deaths continued to rise, they also noticed a downtrend in admissions in the last quarter of the year.

Based on DOH-RESU 7’s latest report, majority of the dengue cases and fatalities in the region come from Cebu City with 3,933 cases and 28 deaths.

Next to Cebu City is Mandaue City with 1,554 cases and 24 deaths and LapuLapu City with 1,137 cases and 17 deaths.

Top 10

Aside from the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, included in the top 10 local government units with the most number of dengue cases are the cities of Dumaguete are Bais in Negros Oriental; the cities of Carcar, Talisay and Toledo and the towns of Consolacion and Balamban in Cebu.

Cimafranca said that based on their monitoring, they noticed a downtrend of dengue hospital admissions during the last quarter of the year.

He said they noticed a spike in dengue cases during the middle of the year, but slowly going down during the last two quar- ters of this year.

But Cimafranca admitted that 2016 was a very particular year for dengue because of the sudden weather changes that started with El Niño during the first quarter of this year.

Clean

Cimafranca said he hopes the number of dengue cases next year would decrease provided that there is no new strain of the virus.

Cimafranca continues to emphasize the need to clean one’s surroundings as a deterrent against dengue.

He urged communities to conduct search-and-destroy operations on dengue mosquito breeding sites.

Cimafranca also urged families to practice cleaning of possible breeding sites inside or outside their houses.