Dengue cases 131% higher than last year — DOH

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DENGUE cases nationwide are up by 131 percent from January to to July 30 compared to same period last year, with at least 29 provinces, highly-urbanized cities, and independent component cities “exceeding epidemic threshold,” the Department of Health yesterday said.

During a DOH briefing with the Senate committee on health, Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire, DOH officer-in-charge, said the country has recorded 102,619 dengue cases from January to July 30, of which 36,363 cases or 36 percent were “dengue without warning signs”; 59,143 cases or 58 percent were with warning signs; and 1,521 or one percent “severe dengue.”

The reported deaths during the same period were 368 with a case fatality rate of 0.4 percent.

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Vergeire said 55 percent of the cases and 58 percent of the deaths were children below 15 years.

She said the cases started to increase starting May, and the noticeable sharp increase started on July 3.

The DOH’s latest disease surveillance report said most dengue cases were from Central Luzon (18,664, 18%), Central Visayas (10,034, 10%), and National Capital Region (8,870, 9%).

Nine out of 17 regions have also exceeded the epidemic threshold over the past four weeks. These are Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Cordillera Administrative Region, and Metro Manila.

Vergeire said to combat dengue, the DOH has been conducting prevention programs which DOH directors and staff members can disseminate to the grassroots level. It has also been providing insecticides and rapid diagnostic testing kits, and continuously monitoring areas with increasing rates and providing local officials with technical assistance.

On monkeypox, Vergeire said there has been no reported case in the country as of August 8 since the first was reported on July 29.

Before the country reported its first monkeypox case, Vergeire said, the DOH has been issuing guidelines to the public on how to prevent the spread of the disease. It also strengthened border control through the Bureau of Quarantine, provided thermal scan for incoming passengers, provided additional funds to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine to increase its laboratory capacity, negotiated with vaccine manufacturers, supported the private sector in the importation of monkeypox vaccines, and inquired with the Food and Drugs Administration on the “regulatory tools needed for MPX (monkeypox) vaccines.” — With Gerard Naval

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