Saturday, May 10, 2008 Dengue cases increase: health office
THE Department of Health (DOH)-National Epidemiology Center (NEC) on Friday reported an increase of 33.9 percent in the number of dengue cases in the country.
From the period of January 1 to April 5, NEC said they recorded a total of 9,176 dengue cases admitted to the different sentinel hospitals nationwide.
The figure is 2,321 cases higher than the 6,855 victims recorded during the same period last year.
Metro Manila accounted for 26 percent of the cases by having 2,382 cases reported, including 17 deaths.
The city of Manila continues to hold the highest number of dengue cases in the metropolis by having a total of 673 cases.
Other Metro cities that have a high number of cases are the cities of Quezon (340), Caloocan (317), Pasay (184), Parañaque (171), Pasig (145) and Taguig (101).
Aside from the National Capital Region (NCR), other areas that have high dengue cases are the Regions Central Visayas - 1326 cases (14.5 percent); Central Luzon - 1,218 (13.31 percent); Calabarzon - 867 (9.4 percent) and Zamboanga Peninsula - 713 (7.8 percent).
Out of the 9,176 victims, a total of 108 individuals died, which is also higher than last year's 74 recorded deaths.
About 53 percent of the patients were found to be males with the youngest victim only being one month old and the oldest at 87 years of age.
Clustering of cases were also found in the cities of Quezon, Mandaluyong, Manila, Navotas, Cebu, Mandaue, Dumaguete, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Cainta and La Trinidad, among others. (FP/Sunnex)
