Highest in three years with 6 deaths
TACLOBAN CITY- Dengue fever cases in Northern Samar has claimed the lives of six children with more than 1,000 others falling ill due to the said mosquito-bites ailment.
The 1,073 cases of dengue fever covering from the months of January to November 13 of this year is the highest of the province for the past three years, Jessica Tepace, provincial dengue coordinator, said in a mobile phone interview.
Tepace said that the 1,073 dengue fever cases of the province is its highest since 2015 wherein 635 people were downed due to dengue fever.
In 2017, there were only 529 dengue fever cases with a single death.
The municipal government of Mondragon town has placed the entire town under a state of health emergency last October, Tepace said.
She said that almost all of its 24 barangays have dengue fever cases with the villages of Bugko and Cahicsan having the most number with combined 44 cases.
A one year-old boy from the village of Eco of said town died this week due to the mosquito-bite ailment, Tepace said, without giving details on the circumstances of the case.
Fatalities, whose age ranged from four years old up to 9 years old, due to dengue fever also occurred in the towns of Catarman, the provincial capital, with two deaths with the towns of Biri, Gamay, and San Isidro with one death each.
Tepace said that they expect more cases of dengue fever before the year ends as the province continues to experience rainy season.
“The increase of the dengue fever cases in the province is due to stagnant waters caused by the rains that we have experienced since the start of the year,” she said.
“That is why we are encouraging the public to clean their surroundings particularly those areas where there are stagnant waters which mostly serve as the breeding ground of dengue-causing mosquitoes,” Tepace said.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
