Dengue situationer in Maasin City and Southern Leyte province bared

By BONG PEDALINO
August 20, 2010

MAASIN CITY  –  A Sanitary Inspector at the Rural Health Unite I (RHU I) in this city, and a Department of Health (DOH) Representative assigned at the Salvacion Oppus Yñiguez Memorial Provincial Hospital (SOYMPH) have provided PIA updates on the latest dengue statistics.

Brenda Eway, Sanitary Inspector from RHU I, said that as per their periodic monitoring, a total of 91 confirmed cases of dengue was noted from January up to July this year, with the month of July being the peak month with 41 cases.

As for this month, August, four new cases were observed up to August 6, and no case yet came to their attention until August 16, Eway said.

Earlier, in a recent meeting with the Parents-Teachers Association at Saint Joseph College (SJC), Dr. Francilisa Tan, head of RHU I, revealed that of all the provinces in Region 8, Southern Leyte was the lowest in terms of dengue prevalence, but of all the local government units in the province, Maasin City emerged the highest in confirmed dengue cases.

She said at least two fatalities resulted as victims of dengue illness, while the rest recovered, although some were brought to hospitals in Tacloban.

She also said that five central barangays in the city – barangays Combado, Tagnipa, Tunga-tunga, Abgao, and Mantahan – were observed as the areas where most dengue victims came from.

More than half of those afflicted with the mosquito-borne disease were children aged 5 to 9 years old, while the age range also included up to 20 years old, Dr. Tan added.

At the provincial health office, Joel Napuli, the DOH Representative, disclosed that a total of 180 reported cases of dengue were listed by his office from May up to August 13 this year, adding that the computer record from January to April can no longer be found.

Napuli gave the breakdown of the affected towns as follows: Bontoc - 2; Hinundayan - 2; Liloan - 1; Limasawa - 14; Macrohon - 26; Malitbog - 9; Padre Burgos - 6; Pintuyan - 14; San Francisco - 2; San Juan - 2; San Ricardo - 11; Sogod - 10; and Tomas Oppus - 1.

Napuli included Maasin City in his list with 80 cases, apparently not an updated figure.

Not included in his list were the towns of Saint Bernard and Silago, but a local English weekly, quoting health sources, had 5 cases for Saint Bernard and 2 for Silago, while Limasawa had 17.