DOH: Dengue cases up by 142% in Cordillera

5 dead, 484 afflicted 

BAGUIO CITY -- Dengue cases have increased in Cordillera with five fatalities reported -- one each from Pilar, Abra; Tuba, Benguet; Tinoc, Ifugao and two from Tabuk City, Kalinga.

Baguio and Benguet have a five-fold and three-fold increase respectively, since the start of this year.

“The 142 percent increase in dengue cases regionwide as compared to last year is “alarming,” Cordillera Dept. of Health Director III Amelita Pangilinan said during a recent media forum here.

She said Baguio had 76 suspected dengue cases for January to May last year, and now has 484; Benguet had 127, now with 526; Abra had 138 last year, now down to 62, a 55% decrease.

In Baguio, clustering of dengue cases was reported at Pinsao, Engineer’s Hill, Loakan Proper, Hillside, Bakakeng Central and Irisan. Poblacion, Balili, Bahong, Bineng in La Trinidad; Paykek, Datakan, Central, in Kapangan; Poblacion, Bokod; all in Benguet, and Bulanao, Tabuk have reported clustering of cases.

These areas had three or more suspected cases in four consecutive weeks.

Pangilinan said cases did not all come from the region as the hospitals in the Cordillera also received patients from other regions which contributed to the 1,539 cases, which was noted to have increased from the 636 in 2015, based from the report of the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit.