The Department of Health (DOH) reports that 9,815 cases of dengue, including 37 deaths, were recorded in a SINGLE week from September 8 to 14, 2019. This number was 116% higher than the number of cases recorded during the same period in 2018. To date, the most number of cases were reported in Region IV-A (CALABARZON) with 49,661 cases and 152 deaths.
Almost a quarter of reported dengue cases as well as 38% of reported deaths involved children between 5 and 9 years old. Sixteen percent of cases were children ages 4 years and below, 20% of cases were children between 10 and 14 years old, and 15% of cases were adolescents between 15 and 19 years old.
The Epidemiology Bureau says that a total of 307,704 dengue cases have been recorded nationwide from January 1 to September 14, including 1,247 deaths.
Other regions that reported high numbers of dengue cases were Western Visayas (49,069 cases, 214 deaths), Metro Manila (23,251 cases, 122 deaths), Central Luzon (23,046 cases, 61 deaths), and Northern Mindanao (21,649 cases, 80 deaths).
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Cases of dengue continued to increase after the week of September 8 to 14. ReliefWeb reports that there were 8,856 cases and 15 deaths recorded between September 15 and 21. The number is lower than the number of cases recorded the previous week, but it is still 25% higher than the number recorded during the same period in 2018.
The total number of cases recorded from January 1 to September 21 is now at 322,693, including 1,272, marking a 115% increase in the number of cases recorded during the same period in 2018.
The DOH declared a national dengue epidemic back in August 2019 after a rapid increase in the number of dengue cases across several parts of the Philippines.
Following this alarming news, the DOH is reminding the public of different ways to control the spread of dengue. Keep your environment clean and dry, so dengue-carrying mosquitoes cannot breed. Insecticide fogging in areas with a high number of dengue cases is also recommended.
The DOH reminds parents to watch out for dengue symptoms in their children, which include fever accompanied by headache and pain behind the eyes or in the muscles and joints for at least two days.
Early detection of dengue symptoms is key to increasing a child’s possibility of survival, but each child can exhibit different symptoms. Click here and here to learn about some of those signs.
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