TWO more children died of dengue last Monday, the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) reported.
Compared to last year, fewer persons have died of dengue in Central Visayas, so far, even if more cases have been recorded. But that’s no comfort to the children’s families.
Health officers were told to keep health centers in “epidemic threshold areas” open 24 hours.
That way, “the patients can be managed at that level and at the same time, we can decongest hospitals. We hope they will be given a budget for laboratory supplies,” said Department of Health (DOH) 7 Director Dr. Susana Madarieta.
She said she is thankful that even if no dengue outbreak has been declared in the region, local government units have helped by providing supplies to public hospitals.
The three cities in Central Visayas with the most number of cases and deaths are Cebu City, with 1,282 cases and nine deaths; Tagbilaran City in Bohol Province, with 363 cases and three deaths; and Lapu-Lapu City, with 220 cases.
One of this week’s fatalities is a five-year-old girl from Sitio Kitchen, Barangay Pajo in Lapu-Lapu. Doctors at VSMMC diagnosed her with dengue shock syndrome (DSS).
The rest of the cities or towns with the most dengue cases are Toledo City, Talisay City, Dumaguete City, Danao City, Naga City, Mandaue City and Sibulan town in Negros Oriental.
Children
The other child who died this week of dengue in VSMMC is a one-year-old boy from Zone Tangkong, Barangay Paknaan in Mandaue City. He was diagnosed with DSS and dengue encephalitis.
Both children were admitted last Sunday, Sept. 5.
Nonoy Mongaya, VSMMC spokesman, said the hospital has a total of 96 patients suffering from various stages of dengue hemorrhagic fever.
Most of the patients at the tertiary hospital are children.
Of the 96 patients, 17 are zero to five years old, while 13 are between six and 10 years. Five patients are between 15 and 24 years.
Based on the latest data from the Regional Epidemiological and Surveillance Unit (RESU) of the DOH, a total of 5,571 cases were seen, examined or admitted at different disease reporting units from Jan. 1 to Sept. 4.
The figures are 28.3 percent higher compared to the same period last year, when 4,342 cases were reported.
Fewer deaths were noted this year, at 32, and the case fatality rate is 0.6 percent.
Last year, there were 61 deaths, or a case fatality rate of 1.4 percent. (The World Health Organization’s recommendation is to try to keep that rate at under one percent.)
Majority of the patients are 6 to 10 years old, although at least one 89-year-old patient was reported.
The RESU 7 report stated the dengue cases in Central Visayas have “reached the epidemic threshold.”
Epidemic threshold areas are zones nearing “epidemic” classification, which has at least 20 percent of the population affected.
Dengue hot spots are areas that have three or more cases a week.
In Mandaue City, two children died of dengue fever in August: a seven-year-old girl from Barangay Pagsabungan and a three-year-old boy from Paknaan. They, too, suffered from dengue shock syndrome.
Last night, the Mandaue City District hospital received two more dengue patients.
Paknaan Barangay Captain Oscar Mendoza said City Health personnel noted the presence of dengue carrying mosquitoes in the area where the fatality was reported, prompting them to urge residents to thoroughly clean the place and eliminate pools of stagnant water.
From January to June 2010, there were 57 dengue cases in Mandaue, higher than in the same period in 2009, which had 51 cases. About 200 cases were reported in the second half of 2009.
August was the first month when deaths caused by dengue fever were reported this year in Mandaue. Last year, there were already three deaths in the first six months.
Lapu-Lapu
In Lapu-Lapu, the city recorded 220 dengue fever as of yesterday, from only 173 as of Aug. 28. The city averaged four new dengue cases a day in the last 10 days.
But Mayor Paz Radaza is confident that with everybody’s cooperation and City Hall’s tight prevention and monitoring, they can suppress an outbreak.
The RESU report listed Lapu-Lapu as the third city with the highest number of dengue cases in the region this year. Last year, the city recorded 518 cases, with six deaths.
Cebu City
As the cases keep rising, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said yesterday dengue may not be eliminated despite the intensified campaign of the City Government.
He assured, though, the city will continue to be aggressive in its anti-dengue campaign.
The City Health Department has adopted additional tactics in its anti-dengue campaign.
These include the impregnation of curtains and mosquito nets, aside from the usual “pulong-pulong”, mist spraying and “the four S” approach (search and destroy, self-protection, say no to fogging, social mobilization).
Rama reiterated his appeal to the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas to help the City Government in its information drive.
The CHD has recorded 1,175 dengue cases from January to August this year compared to 1,009 cases in the same period last year.
In July and August last year, there were 189 and 410 dengue cases, respectively. This year’s figures are higher: 243 in July and 494 in August.
However, CHD records also showed fewer deaths this year, at 11, compared to 18 deaths in the same timeframe last year.
Rama was scheduled to meet yesterday with local health authorities to check again what they need for their anti-dengue campaign. The City Government is set to buy this week P7 million worth of medicines and supplies for dengue patients. (BAP/ETB/AIV/OCP)