Dengue cases up 73% in Luzon

While the number of dengue cases in the entire country has dropped by a third, in Luzon it has surged by more than 73 percent when compared to last year, the Department of Health (DoH) said on Tuesday.

In a report, the DoH also said the number of dengue cases in Metro Manila had nearly doubled from 5,416 covering the period January to August 2010 to 10,487 in the same period this year.

The capital recorded 37 deaths due to dengue during the same period last year but this rose to 70 so far this year, the DoH said.

“We registered a drop in almost all the other regions. We are just having a problem in Luzon,” said Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, manager of the DoH Emerging and Reemerging Diseases Program.

Suy said this could be because of a new dengue strain—the “zero” type—that was discovered circulating in Luzon.