BALER, Aurora—Of the seven provinces in Central Luzon, only this province has registered zero deaths from dengue, the Department of Health reported.
Latest statistics released by the DoH regional office showed that for the past two years, Aurora has not recorded a single fatality of the 707 dengue cases from January 2015 up to Sept. 10, 2016.
Over the 20-month period, 42 deaths were so far recorded, including 18 in Bulacan, 12 in Pampanga, four each in Bataan and Nueva Ecija, three in Zambales and one in Tarlac.
Pampanga had the highest death toll in 2016 with 10 followed by Bulacan with eight and Bataan and Nueva Ecija with four each. Aside from Aurora, Tarlac and Zambales had zero deaths this year.
Last year, Aurora, Bataan and Nueva Ecija had zero deaths while Bulacan had 10, Zambales three, Pampanga two and Tarlac one.
DoH regional director Leonita Gorgolon said that all over the region, they have monitored 24,606 dengue incidence for the past 20 months.
Gorgolon said of these, some 9,927 cases were monitored in 2016, representing a 32-percent decrease from the 14,679 cases in 2015.
For the past 20 months, Bulacan had the highest dengue incidence with 6,341 cases followed by Pampanga (5,749), Tarlac (4,876), Nueva Ecija (3,092), Bataan (2,238), Zambales (1,603) and Aurora’s 707.
Last year, Bulacan was tops with 4,493 dengue cases, Tarlac (3,643), Pampanga (2,613), Nueva Ecija (1,869), Zambales (981), Bataan (709), Aurora (371).
For this year, Pampanga led in dengue cases with 3,136 followed by Bulacan with 1,848 cases, Bataan (1,529), Tarlac (1,233), Nueva Ecija (1,223), Zambales (622) and Aurora (336).
Percentage-wise, Bataan the highest increase in dengue incidence with 116 percent (709 to 1,529), followed by Pampanga with a 20 percent increase (2,613 to 3,136).
The other provinces posted decreases in dengue cases notably Tarlac with a 66 Aurora reduction in dengue cases (3,643 to 1,233), Bulacan with 59 Aurora (4,493 to 1,848), Zambales with 37 percent (981 to 622), Nueva Ecija with 35 percent (1,869 to 1,223) and Aurora at nine percent (371 to 336).
Gorgolon said that the DOH and local government units in the seven provinces are actively involved in interventions to reduce dengue cases to the barest minimum.
She said that DOH field teams have embarked on surveillance and search for mosquito-breeding sites and have deployed anti-dengue task forces in the barangays.