Cordillera dengue cases drop by 73 percent

THE Cordillera office of the Department of Health (DOH-CAR reported dengue fever cases in the region dropped by 73 percent for the first nine months of this year after being able to record some 2,689 cases this year compared to the 9,813 cases last year.

Dra. Jennifer Joyce R. Pira, Medical Officer III and head of the Department of Health Emergency Management Cluster of the DOHCAR, reported that deaths due to dengue fever also decreased this year with 8 fatalities for the reckoning period compared to 21 fatalities recorded during the same period last year.

Based on data obtained from the agency, the dengue fever cases came from Kalinga with 873 which is equivalent to 32.5 percent of the total dengue fever cases followed by Benguet with 488 or 18.1 percent, Ifugao with 414 cases or 15.4 percent, Baguio City – 327 or 1.2 percent, Abra – 214 or 8 percent, Apayao – 158 cases or 5.9 percent, Mountain Province – 48 cases or 1.8 percent and non-CAR provinces – 167 cases or 6.2 percent.

Pira reported that some 1,498 males or 55.7 percent of the total number of individuals affected with dengue fever and that the age range of the individuals who have contracted dengue were 9 days to 92 years old with a median of 16 years old.

Of the total number of dengue-related deaths, 7 deaths were reported in the different provinces in the Cordillera while 1 death was considered to belong to the non-CAR category.

Last month, the DOH-CAR was able to record 627 dengue cases which was 72 percent lower compared to the dengue cases recorded in September 2016 which was 2,206 cases. The dengue fever cases were reportedly from Kalinga with 237 cases or 37.8 percent followed by Ifugao with 149 cases or 23.8 percent, Benguet – 82 cases or 13.1 percent, Abra – 61 or 9.7 percent, Baguio City – 46 cases or 7.3 percent, Apayao – 14 cases or 2.2 percent, Mountain Province – 12 or 1.9 percent and non-CAR provinces – 26 cases or 4.1 percent.

The DOH-CAR official claimed there were 348 males or 55.5 percent of the total number of affected individuals were males and that the age range of the affected persons were 2 months to 84 years old with a median of 11 years old.

Pira claimed there was clustering of dengue cases that were recorded in the different parts of the region while there were 2 reported dengue-related deaths in Baguio city and Mountain Province last month.

Dengue fever is caused by any of the four zero types of dengue virus and all strains are present in the Cordillera.

An infected day-biting female Aedes mosquito transmits the viral disease to humans, thus, the need for individuals to make sure that they are able to clean the breeding ground of the said type of mosquito which are the containers of clear and stagnant water.

Further, health authorizes advised the public to be extra careful of the effects of the viral disease to the health of the people in their communities considering that dengue fever is now a year-round illness from its previous cyclical trend over the past several years.

Pira said the decrease in dengue fever cases should not be a means to be complacent on the part of the public, thus, the need for them to make sure of year-round cleanliness in their surroundings.