Ritchie Osmeña catches dengue

CEBU, Philippines - The dengue virus has knocked down Cebu City Councilor Richard “Ritchie” Osmeña, who has been staying in the hospital for more than one week now.

Osmeña, son of former Cebu City vice mayor Renato V. Osmeña, said he experienced severe fever last week and the doctors diagnosed him of being afflicted with dengue fever when his platelet count dropped to 28,000 per microliter (mcL).

The platelets play a very important role in the healing process and the formation of blood clots at the time of injury. A normal platelet count of a person varies from 150,000 to 400,000 per microlitre.

The doctors said even a slight increase or decrease in this range can result in dangerous consequences. Platelet count below 50,000 per microliter can be life threatening.

As of yesterday, the south district councilor said his platelet count had already gone up to 90,000 and he is already feeling better.

There are 757 dengue cases with eight deaths recorded by the Cebu City Health Department since January.

Durinda Macasocol of the City Epidemiology Surveillance and Statistics Unit said the figure is much lower than the 930 cases in the same period last year, although there were only seven deaths.

Macasocol said health personnel already sprayed chemicals called delmethrin that can kill mosquitoes, particularly its larvae, within the premises of the city councilor’s residence in Veloso Street, Guadalupe, although it cannot be traced of where Osmeña got afflicted with the virus.

The usual practice of the City Health personnel is that they will spray chemical within the 50-meter radius from the house of a dengue patient hoping that they can kill the mosquitoes with the dreaded virus.

In 2007, there were 53 casualties but it went down to 51 in 2008, 41 in 2009 and 22 last year.

Macasocol said that the early detection of dengue cases is the best way to minimize deaths.  (FREEMAN)