TABUK, Kalinga – Health authorities brought down the dengue alarm in the province after cases dropped. But even if the alarm has been lowered, dengue watch is still up in places where the number of cases remains high, Provincial Epidemics Surveillance Unit (PESU) Officer Jose Pardito, Jr. said.
Pardito said dengue cases in the province started to rise last June with 58 suspected cases recorded in a span of one week from June 28-July 4. Since then, the number of suspected patients rose to as much as 107 in the week July 26-August 1, according to PESU weekly monitoring.
The health department has recorded 724 cases and three deaths for the period January-September this year, the highest in four years.
This caused alarm because dengue in Kalinga has been at controlled levels since 2005, Pardito said.
Explaining the sudden soar in the number of afflicted patients, Pardito theorized that there might have been a mutation of the previous dengue virus that brought about a new one.
Experts have identified four types of dengue viruses from blood serum analysis.
Pardito disclosed that a patient develops immunity from one type of dengue virus after infection, but remains susceptible to a other dengue viruses.
There must have been a new mutated type of dengue virus that could have infected the high number of patients this time, Pardito said. But this has yet to be confirmed by results of blood serum tests earlier brought to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicines (RITM) in Manila.
The results are expected to arrive this month, which would help in the preventive efforts. Pardito, however stressed that clearing of surroundings is still the most effective measure of eradicating the disease. **by L. Lopez/ PIA-Kalinga, ZZW
Pardito said dengue cases in the province started to rise last June with 58 suspected cases recorded in a span of one week from June 28-July 4. Since then, the number of suspected patients rose to as much as 107 in the week July 26-August 1, according to PESU weekly monitoring.
The health department has recorded 724 cases and three deaths for the period January-September this year, the highest in four years.
This caused alarm because dengue in Kalinga has been at controlled levels since 2005, Pardito said.
Explaining the sudden soar in the number of afflicted patients, Pardito theorized that there might have been a mutation of the previous dengue virus that brought about a new one.
Experts have identified four types of dengue viruses from blood serum analysis.
Pardito disclosed that a patient develops immunity from one type of dengue virus after infection, but remains susceptible to a other dengue viruses.
There must have been a new mutated type of dengue virus that could have infected the high number of patients this time, Pardito said. But this has yet to be confirmed by results of blood serum tests earlier brought to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicines (RITM) in Manila.
The results are expected to arrive this month, which would help in the preventive efforts. Pardito, however stressed that clearing of surroundings is still the most effective measure of eradicating the disease. **by L. Lopez/ PIA-Kalinga, ZZW
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