Dengue Alert

Bacolod City — Dengue fever has claimed the lives of 28 persons in Negros Occidental from January to the first week of October, a big jump from the 15 who died in the same period in 2008.

Health officials here attributed the increase in deaths to delayed consultation and treatment.

Bacolod City alone has had nine deaths out of the 970 dengue fever cases reported as of the first week of October in 2009, City Health Officer Salome Biñas said.

In 2008, Bacolod City had four deaths and 358 dengue fever cases during the same period, Biñas said.

Seven other cities and three towns in Negros Occidental registered 19 deaths from January to October 3 in 2009, up by 72 percent over the 11 deaths reported during the same period, Provincial Health Officer Luisa Efren said.

Negros Occidental, excluding Bacolod City, experienced an increase in deaths in 2009 although it had fewer reported dengue fever cases at 889, down by 11 percent from 1,001 cases registered in 2008 in the same period, Efren said.

Bago City accounted for six deaths and Sagay City, three. Talisay City and Victorias City had two each while La Castellana, Valladolid, La Carlota City, Kabankalan City, Calatrava and Escalante City had one each, she said.

She urged those manifesting symptoms of dengue to seek consultation immediately.

Dengue hemorrhagic fever is an acute infectious disease manifested initially with fever.

Aedes aegypti, the transmitter of the disease, is a day-biting mosquito, which lays eggs in clear and stagnant water found in flower vases, cans, rain barrels, old rubber tires, etc. The adult mosquitoes rest in dark places of the house, according to the Department of Health (DOH) advisory.

The signs and symptoms of dengue are the sudden onset of high fever which may last two to seven days, joint and muscle pain and pain behind the eyes, weakness, skin rashes, nose bleeding when fever starts to subside, abdominal pain, vomiting of coffee-colored matter and dark-colored stools, according to the DOH.

To stop the spread of dengue fever, the DOH is reminding the public to cover water drums and water pails at all times and replace water in flower vases once a week to prevent mosquitoes from breeding.