Manila: Authorities allayed fears of a dengue epidemic gripping parts of the country amid reports there had been abrupt increase in the number of cases this year compared with 2014.
“There is no reason to be alarmed because the Department of Health is closely monitoring this incidence of dengue,” Secretary Herminio Coloma of the Presidential Communications Operations Office said Sunday in an interview aired over government radio station dzRB.
Earlier, the Department of Health (DoH) released data showing there had been a resurgence in the number of dengue cases across the country.
Health Secretary Janette Loreto-Garin said the total number of dengue cases in the country had gone up 16.5 per cent or 78,808 cases, from January 1 to September 5 after posting a drop during the same period last year.
The Philippines was thought to be already winning the war against the deadly tropical disease that kill dozens every year after it posted a significant drop in the number of dengue cases in 2014 when a total 59,943 had been recorded afflicted with the disease from January 1 to September 6 of that year.
In Bulacan, north of Metro Manila, the provincial board had declared the province under a state of calamity after the disease claimed its 11th victim. Bulacan has the most number of people afflicted with dengue among the provinces in Central Luzon with 4,482 cases, a more than 100 per cent increase from last year.
In Cavite south of the capital, health authorities note a 285 per cent increase in dengue cases with over 4,500 individuals afflicted.
In Manila’s suburb of Mandaluyong City, there were already four hundred registered dengue cases showing an increase of 115 per cent from the same period last year in the months covering the review period.
But despite the apparent rise in the number of dengue cases for the year, the health department remain unfazed.
Dr Lyndon Lee Suy spokesman of the DOH explained: “We have to look at the data from a bigger perspective,” he said while pointing out that while the figure is alarming, it is interesting to note that dengue is a localised disease.
“Data from 2014 show that the number of cases were declining, it so happens that there was a rise once more in cases from January 1 to 5, 2015 because the drop from the past year had been significant,” he said.
During January 1 to September 5, 2013, DOH recorded 117,658 dengue case. In 2012, it was even higher at 124,173 patients.
Dengue is a viral tropical disease transmitted through mosquito bite, particularly the Aedes Aegypty specie. Symptoms of the illness include high fever, severe headache, rashes around the body and muscle pain.
