The Health department on Wednesday again reminded the public to take precautions to avoid contracting dengue following the increase in dengue cases nationwide.
“We’re preparing because we’re expecting 2019 to be a big dengue year,” Health Undersecretary Enrique Domingo said in a television interview.
READ: DOH fights dengue in Calabarzon areas
“The way dengue behaves is that you get one or two years of low cases and on the third year it rises.”
The department’s Epidemiology Bureau reported 48,634 dengue cases in the first quarter of 2019 with 184 deaths.
The new figures compare with the 23,328 cases and 150 deaths in the same period last year.
The bureau said Central Visayas had the highest number of cases this year with 5,421 followed by Metro Manila with 4,855, Calabarzon with 4,851, Caraga with 4,570 and Central Luzon with 4,009.
Domingo said the dengue cases were expected to rise in June, the start of the rainy season, but warned the public against the possible attack of dengue-carrying mosquitoes in the summer.
“The dengue mosquito bites during the day, usually from dawn until an hour or two after sunset, so during the day dengue is still dangerous to children and the very old,” Domingo said
He said dengue mosquitoes also breed in stagnant waters, such as those in clogged gutters, sewers, and discarded tires.
Those who have been injected with the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia are still susceptible to the disease, Domingo said.
“Those who have been vaccinated before, we tell them not to wait for the condition of the child to worsen,” he said.
“As long as they have fever, stomach pain, headache and pain in the eyes, bring them immediately to our hospitals.”
