3,000 dengue cases in Cordillera in 8 months

BAGUIO CITY—Dengue cases in the Cordillera soared to 3,124 from January to August, exceeding by 138 percent the 1,351 cases recorded for the same period last year, health records showed.

Ursula Segundo, entomologist at the Department of Health (DOH) in Cordillera, said Mountain Province recorded the highest rise, from 36 patients in 2014 to 369 in eight months this year.

Apayao province reported 427 patients, a huge rise from the 94 cases recorded last year.

Hospitals in Baguio City treated 495 patients this year, an increase from 196 cases in 2014.

Segundo also said a survey team had discovered an increase in mosquito breeding areas in many upland towns during the monsoon season.

In Bohol province, health authorities have declared a dengue outbreak in Sagbayan town after one person died and more than 100 others have fallen ill in just two months.

Records at the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (Resu) showed 116 residents got sick of dengue from June 14 to Aug. 20.

Barangay Poblacion had the most number of dengue with 55 patients while the rest were in Barangays Canmaya Centro, 10; Canmaya Diot, nine; and Sagbayan Sur, eight.

The lone fatality was a 35 year-old resident of Barangay San Antonio in Sagbayan, said Michael Nitafan of DOH Resu-Bohol.

Sagbayan is a fifth-class municipality with only one rural health unit that caters to the town’s basic health needs. Jessica Tabilin, Inquirer Northern Luzon; Leo Udtohan, Inquirer Visayas