Baguio has 444 dengue cases; Kalinga reaches epidemic level

The city health services offices here revealed 444 dengue fever cases have been recorded in 88 out of the 128 barangays in this city first 225 days of this year to date.

This, as dengue cases in Kalinga has reached the epidemic level, according to a Provincial Epidemic and Surveillance Unit monitoring report.

In Baguio, Health department data revealed recorded dengue fever cases this year was 158 percent higher than the 180 dengue fever cases registered during the same period last year.

Due to alarming increase in the number of dengue fever cases in the city, health officials tasked barangay health workers to intensify information and education campaign to prevent occurrence of the dreaded disease which could be fatal.

The local health office said sudden surge in dengue fever cases in most parts of the country was due to the cyclic trend of the illness where it usually rises every three to four years coupled with the serious negative effects of climate change to the breeding of the dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

In Kalinga, PESU officer Jose Pardito Jr. said the number of dengue cases in the province this year reached its peak second week of July with 47 cases mostly coming from Tabuk.

Although the number of cases entered the epidemic level, Pardito said the PESU cannot declare an outbreak, since the number this year is still lower than last year's.

The peak in 2009 was monitored during the last week of August with 107 cases. Before the health authority declares an outbreak, it needs the data for the past three years, Pardito explained.

Based on records of the PESU, the point when dengue cases started to rise in a particular area this year in the province was noted in the second week of June with 11 cases.

He attributed this to onset of rains, as dengue being a mosquito-borne disease is highly affected by the amount of stored water in the surroundings, which serves as mosquitoes' breeding place.
Comparing the data this year to that of last year, Pardito said the alert level this year is relatively lower than in 2009. There were three deaths due to dengue recorded last year, while the death record has remained zero this year.

He urged residents to continue with the eradication efforts against dengue mosquitoes and advised suspected patients to seek immediate medical treatments with the nearest health station.