Dengue cases in Western Visayas have increased by 199 percent, the Department of Health-6 reported on Tuesday, August 27.
Dr. Bea Natalaray, DOH-6 Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases Section chief, said in a Zoom conference that from Jan. 1 to Aug. 17, dengue cases in WV were at 15,688, or 199 percent higher than the same period last year that only had 5,254 cases.
There were 31 recorded dengue deaths in the region with the provinces of Iloilo and Neg. Occ. having six each.
DOH-6 recorded 3,490 new cases in the region, with Iloilo topping other provinces and highly-urbanized cities with 1,315.
Iloilo province has had the highest number of dengue cases in the region since January with 6,069, followed by Negros Occidental with 2,418, Aklan – 1,766, Capiz – 1,581, Guimaras – 1,320, Iloilo City – 945, Antique – 942, and Bacolod City – 647.
Natalaray also said that high school and senior high school students, ages 11 to 20, had the highest number of dengue cases at 5,348 or 34.2 percent, while there were 4,999 cases in the 1 to 10 years old age group.
Eleven of 19 municipalities and all 12 cities or 137 barangays of Negros Occidental have clustering cases of dengue, while in Bacolod there were 24 out of 61 barangays, Natalaray said.
Brgy. Mandalagan in Bacolod City was identified to be a dengue hotspot, which Natalaray defined as an area with either sustained increase in the number of cases or there are clustering cases with dengue deaths.*