LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — Health officials in Pangasinan province are racing against time to arrest the alarming surge in dengue cases in the province that had claimed the lives of 17 people, most of them children.
Provincial Health Officer Ana Maria Teresa de Guzman on Monday, August 19, reported the dengue situation in the province to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan during its regular session.
Board Member Jerry Agerico Rosario, vice chairman of the SP committee on health, invited De Guzman to discuss the dengue situation and how cases are being managed.
De Guzman said that from January 1 to August 19 this year, the number of dengue cases reached 2,816, about 98 percent more than the 1,421 cases reported in the same period in 2023. Fourteen deaths were reported in the same period last year.
She said that this capital town recorded the most number of cases with 340, followed by Bayambang town with 295 cases, San Carlos City, 236, Urbiztondo, 208, and Bugallon, 177.
Last week, Board Member Shiela Marie Baniqued passed a resolution urging the different local government units in the province to intensify their anti-dengue drives.
Gov. Ramon Guico III also called on Pangasinan residents in a video message to support the government’s effort to fight dengue.
“We have identified the villages with clustered cases, and we are really very concerned with Urbiztondo [town] because their cases are increasing, and they already have three fatalities,” said De Guzman.
She said that last year, Urbiztondo only had four dengue cases from January 1 to August 19. But this year, in the same period, 208 cases were recorded.
Based on the Provincial Health Office’s dengue surveillance report, five deaths were recorded in this capital town, four in Sual town, and one each in the towns of Binmaley, Bautista, and Natividad. Two deaths were reported in San Carlos City.
The report also indicated that 12 of those who died were children aged 8 months old to 13 years old.
The death toll rose in July when the number of dengue cases jumped from 201 in June to 1,335 in July. From August 1 to August 19, 714 dengue cases have been recorded.
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