Dengue claims 3 in CV in two months

CEBU, Philippines - Three people died of dengue in Central Visayas from January to March 1 this year.

The fatalities are from Dumaguete City and Bais City in Negros Oriental and from Minglanilla in Cebu.

Data from Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU) showed that numbers within this time period – 628 cases and three deaths – is 83.8 percent lower than the numbers in the same period last year. There were 3,883 cases and six deaths last year.

Cebu City continues to lead the list of local government unit with the most number of reported cases – 118 cases this year and 547 cases last year.

Lapu-Lapu City ranked second this year with 86 cases followed by Dumaguete City with 70 cases. Last year, Dumaguete had 358 cases while Lapulapu had 247 cases.

In the fourth spot this year are Minglanilla town in Cebu and Sibulan in Negros Oriental, with 28 cases each.

Also tied are Guihulngan town in Negros Oriental and Talisay City in Cebu with 20 cases each.

Balamban and Carcar in Cebu followed suit with 13 and 11 cases, respectively. Mandaue City, meanwhile, has 10 cases.

A bulk of this year’s dengue cases involved patients aged 21 years old and above.

Cebu City is 18.8 percent of the total number of cases, Lapulapu City 13.7 percent, Dumaguete City 11.3 percent, Minglanilla 4.6 percent, and Sibulan 4.5 percent. —/JMO (FREEMAN)