THE Cebu City Health Office (CHO) has recorded a significant increase in dengue cases in the city from January to May 2022, with this year's tally now at 422.

CHO Chief Dr. Jeffrey Ibones told SunStar Cebu Wednesday, May 18, 2022, that of the 422 recorded cases, 13 individuals have already succumbed to the mosquito-borne disease.

Ibones said that in 2021, the CHO only recorded 36 cases. This means an increase of 1,172 percent in the number of cases.

Based on the CHO's data, most of the individuals who caught the virus were children, but Ibones warned the adults that dengue does not choose any age.

Ibones said possible symptoms of dengue are fever, body malaise, abdominal pain, vomiting, and in severe cases, bleeding is possible.

With the symptoms being vague, Ibones urged individuals who are experiencing symptoms of dengue to undergo laboratory examinations to confirm if they have the disease.

He added that they have already sent a letter to the barangay officials in the city to activate their Anti-Dengue Task Force to "search and destroy" possible nesting grounds of the dengue-carrying mosquitos.

Dengue is a disease caused by a virus of the genus flavivirus. A person becomes infected if he or she is bitten by a female Aedes aegypti, a day-biting mosquito, that is infected with a virus.

Danger signs of the disease include spontaneous bleeding, persistent vomiting, cold, clammy skin, listlessness, weak, rapid pulse and difficulty of breathing, according to health experts. (IRT/LMY)