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CITY OF
SAN FERNANDO—At least 1,578 dengue victims were admitted
to sentinel hospitals in Central Luzon during the first
half of this year.
This
number, said Rio Magpantay, health department director
for Central Luzon, is 249.8 percent higher compared with
the same period last year.
Magpantay revealed that Pampanga is number one among the
seven provinces in the region with 660 cases, or 440
percent higher compared with last year, followed by
Bulacan, with 306, and Nueva Ecija, with 298 cases.
The
number of victims is still growing as public and private
hospitals in the region and as from far as Metro Manila
are admitting dengue patients daily.
In
Pampanga, four barangays have clustering of dengue
cases. These are Sapang Bato in Angeles City, Madapdap
in Mabalacat, Pulung Santol in Porac and Dolores in this
city.
Some of
the towns and cities in Pampanga with high rate of
dengue cases are this city, Angeles City, Masantol,
Mabalacat, Mexico, Arayat, Apalit, Magalang, Macabebe,
Lubao and Porac.
Rhodora
Cruz, chief of the Regional Epidemiology and
Surveillance Unit, said that for Central Luzon, ages of
cases ranged from two months to 88 years with a medium
of 14 years. She added that majority of the victims were
male (53 percent). Sixty-seven percent of the victims
were aged 18 and below.
She
revealed that there were 12 deaths for a mortality rate
of 0.76 percent. Two additional deaths, in Santa
Catalina, Lubao, and Pulung Santol in Porac, were
reported by their respective rural health units.
The
Health Regional Office identified the fatalities as
Andrea Banting, 11, who died at San Lazaro Hospital in
Manila, and Jessa Amor Marcojos, 11, who died at Porac
District Hospital.
Cruz
said preventive and control efforts are now being
undertaken both by the local governments and the Center
for Health Development. Cruz stressed that there is an
emerging need for community cleanup coupled with fogging
operations in selected barangays where there are
clustering of dengue cases.
However,
Cruz clarified the fogging operation is only advisable
when there is an outbreak or clustering of cases, and
she does not recommend fogging when the dengue incidence
is only isolated.
The high
rate of dengue incidence in the province prompted Fourth
District board member Ricardo Yabut to alert the health
department on the situation.
Yabut,
who represents the province’s Fourth District, the local
government of Macabebe, his hometown, raised the alarm
following receipt of reports that more than 25 persons
in sitio Arabia, Bebe Anac, were rushed to the Jose B.
Lingad (JBL) Memorial Hospital in this city and to the
Macabebe District Hospital owing dengue fever.
Yabut
was accompanied by Magpantay and Cruz when he visited
the dengue victims confined at the JBL hospital, where
they found out that the hospital is now congested owing
to the confinement of dengue patients. |
