Thursday, June 25, 2009

CHO cites need to drop Dengue data

REPORT BY MICHAEL MEDINA

WHEN it comes to solid figures as to which city barangay is “Dengue prone” or has the most cases of the mosquito-borne virus, Balangasan District is a topnotcher, a report paper submitted by the City Health Office (CHO) said.

The said paper from CHO contains comparative graphs prepared by Task Force Dengue Control and Prevention Program Coordinator Dr. Referino L.A. Lingating, which indicated Balangasan as a consistent honor.

The said barangay topped the list from 2004 to 2007, before sliding second in 2008 and for this year, next to Tiguma, which previously was a third placer.

Balangasan posted its highest number of Dengue cases in 2005 with 48, up from only 14 the previous year.

By 2006, the said village posted 27 cases before reducing this by four in 2007 and then shoot up to 31 in 2008 and finally settling with 10 in 2009 for the period of January to April.

Other barangays frequently listed since 2004 are San Pedro, Sta. Lucia, Sto. Niño, San Jose and Tuburan.

San Francisco, listed as No. 11 in 2004, was not included in 2005 anymore along with Kawit and Napolan, which were also replaced with newcomers Lumbia and Sta. Maria districts.

In 2007, barangays Dumagoc and Dao were included in the top 10 along with Napolan.

San Francisco was listed again in 2008 statistics with both Kawit and Lumbia districts while Santiago was a newcomer in the 2009 list along with Banale making a comeback since it landed in the list four years ago.

The six-year data collected by CHO pointed to 2005 as the year with the highest number of Dengue cases with 303, followed by 2008 with 236; 2006 with 194; 2007 with 159 and 2004 with 74.

As to the municipalities and for the period 2005 to 2007, Labangan and Dumalinao occupied the first two slots for 2005 and 2006 along with Tukuran and Tabina exhibiting two-figure statistics in 2005.

All other towns listed with Dengue cases are Tigbao, San Miguel, Bayog, San Pablo, Vincenzo Sagun, Dinas, Guipos, Lakewood, Aurora and Margosatubig.

City Health Officer Dr. Noel Ceniza said the given figures may not be accurate because some of the victims were not confined to local hospitals, which is the basis of their office for these statistics.