Dengue cases up in Bohol

CLEANUP Volunteers in Dauis, Bohol, hold a community cleanup to destroy breeding areas of disease-carrying mosquitoes. —LEO UDTOHAN

TAGBILARAN CITY — Venia Lopos was sobbing while holding a framed photograph of her daughter, Avegail.

Lopos, 42, said she missed her 6-year-old daughter who died on Oct. 16 due to severe dengue. Avegail was the youngest of Lopos’ six children.

“She loved to sing and dance. She was a talented girl who tagged along wherever I go,” she said.

Avegail, one of the outstanding pupils of Totolan Day Care Center, was one of eight patients who died of dengue in Dauis town in October.

Lopos said she never thought Avegail had contracted dengue because her condition improved after suffering from fever for two days.

Low platelet count

She said Avegail’s fever recurred, prompting them to take her to a hospital in the capital Tagbilaran City.

Lopos said they were surprised to find out that her daughter’s platelet count was down to only 15. Normal platelet count ranges from 150,000 to 400,000 per microliter.

After her daughter’s death, Lopos said she asked her neighbors to join her family in cleaning their surroundings at Barangay Totolan in Dauis to destroy the breeding areas of dengue-carrying mosquitos.

Members of Bayan Bantay sa Krimen at Kalikasan (BBKK)-Bohol chapter also organized a cleanup drive in Dauis on Nov. 4 to prevent the spread of dengue.

Jun Gutierrez, provincial director of BBKK, said the cleanup would be held in other towns of Bohol.

“It is our responsibility to keep our surroundings clean. With dengue cases in the province … increasing, it’s about time we do something,” Gutierrez said.

The Bohol provincial health office recorded 1,459 cases of dengue from January to Oct. 27 this year. Seventeen patients died.

Alarming

The figure was higher than the 1,028 cases recorded from January to December 2017, with only eight deaths.

Leonidas Saniel, coordinator of the Bohol health office’s dengue advocacy program, described the increase in the number of cases as “alarming.”

He urged communities to search for and destroy breeding areas of mosquitos, observe “self-protection” measures and seek early consultation once fever lasts more than two days. —Leo Udtohan