In Cebu City Dengue cases up by over 100%

CEBU, Philippines - The number of dengue cases in Cebu City increased by over 100 percent as of July 14 this year compared to the same period last year, a scenario that was experienced five years ago.The report came a day after President Benigno Aquino III reported in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) that his government’s program of distributing mosquito traps has been very effective in bringing down the number of dengue cases nationwide.

An alarmed Mayor Michael Rama met with the City Health Department and the Cebu City Medical Center yesterday to know what went wrong in their fight against dengue and to give orders to prevent the continuous increase of cases.

Rama said the city government will pursue a progressive and no nonsense intervention in fighting the disease.

The number of dengue cases recorded as of July 14, 2012 from January this year has reached 1,642 with seven deaths compared to only 796 cases with eight deaths during the same period last year.

This shows a 106.29 percent increase compared to the records last year. The incidence rate (IR) of the disease is 1.83 for every 1,000 population. Of those afflicted, 67.60 percent belong to the school age group.

The top 10 barangays with the highest incidence rate, in descending order, are Kalubihan (15.41 IR), Cogon Ramos (6.92 IR), Sto. Niño (6.14 IR), Bacayan (5.42 IR), Pahina San Nicolas (4.78 IR), Sambag I (4.62 IR), Sta. Cruz (4.58 IR), San Nicolas proper (4.16 IR), Zapatera (4.06 IR) and Pit-os (3.9 IR).

Incidence rate is the ratio of the population to the number of cases that occurred in the barangay.

In terms of the number of cases, the top 10 barangays, in descending order, are Guadalupe (154 cases), Bacayan (79 cases), Lahug (79 cases), Kamputhaw (75 cases), Inayawan (74 cases), Basak San Nicolas (65 cases), Tisa (65 cases), Labangon (63 cases), Sambag I (57 cases) and Mabolo (51 cases).

Rama said that these barangays, especially those in the Top 25 must be prepared and alarmed at all times to prevent the further increase of cases.

“Remove laxity and complacency. There should be a barangay involvement and we should strengthen our information dissemination,” Rama said.

The mayor believes that the city has not failed in its campaign, but that it is about time to explore other means of eliminating the disease.

He said that in other countries like Vietnam they eliminate dengue-carrying mosquitoes during the larval stage. – (FREEMAN)