CEBU CITY -- Dengue has claimed its 11th victim in this city this year with the death of a three-year-old child last July 1, a day after she was brought to the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC).

Assistant City Epidemiologist Durinda Macasocol said the parents of the child reportedly took her fever for granted for days, and only decided to bring her to the hospital after her condition worsened.

“Dugay gihatod ba sa parents,” she said.

She advised the public to immediately bring family members sick with fever to the hospital for check-up.

“Dili man na Ginoo ang mga doctor nga makaya pa nila’g luwas ang tawo kung grabe na (Our doctors are mere humans who cannot save all those in critical condition),” she said.

The child from A. Lopez St. was the third victim to die of dengue fever in Barangay Labangon this year.

His death came 12 days after a four-year-old boy from Barangay Talamban succumbed to dengue last month.

The victim from Talamban had fever on June 16, but was brought to the hospital only last June 20.

A 10-year-old girl from Sikatuna St. died of dengue last May 9. She was the ninth dengue fatality in the city this year.

Macasocol said that City Hall offers free complete blood count and platelet count to possible cases of dengue, so there's no reason for residents not to bring the sick to the CCMC or to the barangay health centers for consultation.

City Health Department (CHD) records showed that 381 persons have contracted dengue fever in Cebu City from January 1 to June 20 this year. That figure is 41.65 percent lower compared to the 653 cases recorded during the same period last year.

While 11 lives were lost this year, the number is 62 percent lower compared to 29 deaths due to dengue last year.

Signs and symptoms of dengue include high fever, body weakness, abdominal pain, vomiting and in worse cases, nosebleeds.

Macasocol said awareness of dengue and proper sanitation are necessary to combat the disease.

That is why, she said, the CHD and the 80 barangay captains of the city have agreed to make every first Saturday of the month a “cleaning day,” when residents should “seek and destroy” mosquito breeding sites. (RHM of Sun.Star Cebu)