Dengue kills 9 in Pangasinan

CALASIAO, Pangasinan, Philippines — While Pangasinan province recorded a drop in the number of dengue cases in the last five months, nine people had died from the mosquito-borne disease, prompting local health officials to monitor four towns and a city where it had become prevalent.

Records from the provincial health office showed that there had been 935 dengue cases in the province from Jan. 1 to May 18, a 17-percent drop compared to the 1,133 recorded in the same period last year.

Dr. Rhuel Bobis of the Department of Health in Ilocos region said the fatalities were recorded in seven towns — two in Bayambang and one each in Sta. Barbara, Mangaldan, San Fabian, Manaoag, Bolinao and Pozorrubio.

Urdaneta City had one death. There has been no clustering of dengue cases in the province and the number of fatalities is still “not alarming,” Bobis said.

But health officials are monitoring the increasing number of cases in San Carlos City and in the towns of Bugallon, Sta. Barbara, Mangaldan and Binmaley.

—Yolanda Sotelo