Dengue cases rose by at least 119 cases within the month of July, raising the alarm in areas with abandoned houses that become breeding grounds of dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

From 466 as of July 4, dengue cases rapidly increased to 585 as of July 25 and one more death.

As of the last count, there had been four deaths already recorded in first seven months of the year.

Last week, 10 more dengue patients had been admitted to the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital—four of them came from Sagbayan, three from Catigbian, and three from Jagna.

The Provincial Health Office also noted earlier that dengue cases recorded in the first quarter this year increased compared to the record in the same period last year.

The Provincial Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (PESU) of the Provincial Health Office (PHO) shows that the number reached 387 dengue cases, 3 deaths and a case fatality rate (CFR) of 0.8 percent on January 1–May 9 this year.

In the same period last year, the PHO only recorded 314 cases, 1 death and 0.3 percent CFR.

The dengue surveillance team of the Provincial Health Office proceed to the towns last week to check on the profiles of dengue-susceptible areas to be able to come up with a trend pattern.

Tessie Sarigumba, assistant coordinator of the PHO Technical Division on Dengue Cases, had also been consolidating the results of the entomology surveillance conducted by the team from the Department of Health-7 regional office on July 14 to July 17 in the towns of Bilar, Jagna, Garcia-Hernandez, Carmen, Guindulman, Dauis, Tubigon, Panglao, Cortes and Sagbayan, and Tagbilaran City.

The Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the PHO, led by Sarigumba, also inspected houses abandoned by owners after being damaged during the earthquake.

The PHO team suspected that abandoned houses and damaged structures had become breeding grounds of dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

In fact, Sagbayan used to be excluded in the list of areas of concern, but it had been noticed recently that an average of 10 dengue patients in a month came from the town.

This became noticeable since July upon reports that just within the first week of the month, the record at GCGMH showed around 20 dengue patients coming from Sagbayan.

The dengue surveillance team also studies its significance in the rise of dengue cases in Catigbian, a town adjacent to Sagbayan.

The PHO tapped health officials in the towns in disseminating information materials on preventing the spread of dengue and deaths from its infection to control the increase of cases, considering the onslaught of rainy days.

Misting operations had also been conducted in some areas to complement the information dissemination.(AV)