Antique Integrated Provincial Health Officer Dr. Ric Noel Naciongayo. (PNA photo by Annabel J. Petinglay)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The dreaded mosquito-borne disease, Dengue hemorrhagic fever, has already claimed three lives in the province this year.
In a media interview Monday,
Integrated Provincial Health officer, Dr. Ric Noel Naciongayo, said a nine-year-old girl from Culasi town proper died while undergoing treatment at the Angel Salazar Memorial General Hospital here on Sunday night.
“Unfortunately, we have a third casualty on dengue,” he said.
Naciongayo said the young dengue victim came from the same town as the two previous casualties.
“The first casualty was a seven-year-old girl reportedly from Barangay Naba, Culasi while the second one is a six-year-old girl from Barangay Esperanza, Culasi,” he said.
The victim from Barangay Naba passed away last May 22 while the one from Barangay Esperanza died on June 1.
Naciongayo said he will soon meet with Culasi town mayor Jose Jeffrey “Joje” Lomugdang to discuss interventions against dengue such as the conduct of massive cleanup and installation of treated mosquito nets in various schools.
“We still need to go back to the basic such as cleaning the surroundings,” he said.
Naciongayo said since the start of rainy season has been declared by the state weather bureau, people should get rid of stagnant water in their backyards where mosquitos could breed.
Naciongayo said from January 1 to June 8 this year, there have been 300 dengue cases recorded in the province compared to 213 cases for the same period last year, showing a 41 percent increase.
The town of Culasi has the highest number of dengue cases at 58 followed by capital San Jose de Buenavista with 38 cases and Sibalom with 36 cases. (PNA)
