Less dengue cases, more deaths

CEBU – Dengue cases in Cebu City since January up to October 25 have reached 1,023, city health officials announced yesterday.

But Durenda Macasucol, assistant chief of the City Epidemiology Statistics and Surveillance Unit, explained that the 1,023 dengue cases during the first 10 months of this year is lower compared to 1,464 for the same period in 2007.

But what is bad is that the number of dengue-related casualties this year had increased to 45 compared to only 29 for the same period.

Because Guadalupe is the biggest barangay of Cebu City, it has the highest number of dengue cases and casualties with 72 hospitalized and five dead.

This is followed by barangay Labangon, another big barangay, with 49 cases and three deaths, followed by Mabolo and Basak-San Nicolas, with 45 dengue cases and one death each.

Eleven barangays in the city do not have dengue cases. These are Agsungot, Babag 1, Buot-taup, Malubog, Pamutan, Pit-os, Sudlon 1, Sudlon II, Tabunan, Tagbao and Taptap, all hinterland barangays.

Dr. Raymond Ogan, city dengue coordinator, described the fatality rate as “abnormally high” although the morbidity has a declining trend.

Ogan said their major thrust in the war against dengue fever is to search and eliminate all breeding sites of dengue-carrying mosquitoes called aedes aegypti.

City Health officials have already scheduled another “pulong-pulong” or dialog with residents to inform them about the dengue-related illness that mayor Tomas Osmeña described as “much worse than cancer”.

The pulong-pulong for barangay Basak-San Nicolas is scheduled for November 7, Kamagayan on November 14, Carreta on November 21 and Bonbon on November 28.

The dialog will start at 7 p.m. except in barangay Bonbon which will be conducted at 10 a.m. because of the travel time it takes to reach the said mountain barangay. – Rene U. Borromeo/BRP (THE FREEMAN)