By Zaldy C. Comanda
Baguio City – The Department of Health-Cordillera (DOH-CAR) raised the alarm that dengue fever cases drastically increased by 87 percent in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in the first 17 weeks of this year.
Geeny Anne Austria, a nurse at the DOH-CAR’s regional epidemiology and surveillance unit, said there is a total of 903 dengue cases regionwide this year, as compared with the 484 cases in the same period in 2017.
So far, there are three deaths recorded due to dengue – two children in Baguio City and one more in La Trinidad, Benguet, Austria said. Last year, there was only one fatal case of dengue.
The DOH-CAR said that out of the total number of dengue cases recorded in the region this year, 266 (29.5%) came from Kalinga; 195 (21.6%) from Benguet; 104 (11.5%) from Baguio City; 76 (8.4%) from Apayao; 67 (7.4%) from Abra; 24 (2.7%) each from Ifugao and Mountain Province; and 147 cases (16.7%) from non-CAR provinces.