CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Central Luzon’s chief epidiomologist said yesterday the region is now in the low curve of the three to four-year of dengue fever cycles, with projections that cases could still reach no more than 30,000.
Six deaths due to dengue have so far been reported in the region, as against the 10 fatalities reported last year, the Department of Health reported.
“We hope it will be lower, but the projection is certainly way down the 30,000 cases of dengue we had last year,” Dr. Jesse Fantone, chief epidiomologist of the DOH, said in an interview.
He noted that last year’s cases were in epidemic levels. “We have three to four-year cycles of rising and falling number of dengue cases, and this year, we expect a dip in the cycle,” he said.
Latest regional DOH report counted 2,299 dengue cases reported by the department’s “disease reporting units” in Central Luzon. The report noted that the figure was 57.17 percent lower than the cases reported over the same period last year.
The report noted that 87 percent of the cases “were admitted (in hospitals).”
Fantone expressed hope that the cases this year would even be lower than the projected 30,000. “We have really brought down our anti-dengue campaign to the barangays where we launched our Stop, Look and Listen campaign,” he said
“It’s the same old thing that urges people to stop and look for water pools where dengue-carrying mosquitoes breed so that these could be cleaned, and for them to listen to all advisories from the DOH,” he explained.
The DOH report said the median age for dengue victims in Central Luzon was 15, with their ages ranging from less than one year to 88 years. Fifty-five percent were males, while 70 percent were aged 20 years or below.
DOH statistics also revealed that except in Aurora, dengue cases in other Central Luzon provinces were lower this year, compared to the same period last year. Aurora had only 21 cases up to June last year, while the cases have already reached 98 so far this year.
Up to the early June, Bulacan had the most number of dengue cases at 906, followed by Pampanga with 589, Nueva Ecija with 472, Tarlac with 293, Bataan with 270, and Zambales with only 71.
