Dengue Cases Up 46 Percent In Pangasinan

Dengue cases in Pangasinan increased by 46 percent from 400 for the period January to April 7 last year to some 500 for the same period this year.

This was bared by Dr. Anna Teresa de Guzman, provincial health officer, who admitted during the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) forum on Thursday that even if it is summer, the PHO has not lifted its guard against dengue.

She said based on this statistics, dengue increased by 46 percent or almost 50 percent this year in Pangasinan as compared to last year’s.

On the other hand, there were two deaths that were registered for the same period last year as compared to one death this year with the lone fatality coming from the town of Sison.

“But as compared to other provinces, we are still among the lowest when it comes to dengue,” De Guzman said.

She added that because of the province’s low statistics on dengue, Pangasinan was not among the provinces given the anti-dengue vaccine by the Department of Health (DOH).

The vaccine, she said, was given to Region III whose province Bulacan declared a dengue outbreak last year, as well as Region 4 A, National Capital Region, and Regions 7 and 10.

“Formerly, dengue was only a seasonal disease and comes out only during the wet season, but this is now a disease coming all year-round and in any kind of weather,” said De Guzman. (PNA) LAP/LVM/LVMICUA/RMA