BY BOY RYAN ZABAL
KALIBO, Aklan – The province of Aklan has reached its epidemic alert threshold amid the significant increase in the number of dengue cases.
From January 1 to August 24 this year, the Provincial Health Office (PHO-Aklan) noted four fatalities and 1,820 dengue cases with an attack rate of 291.2 percent.
The province also logged 134 new cases in a span of one week. The majority of cases were found in age group 11 to 30 years old.
There are also clustering of cases in 80 barangays in 15 municipalities with three or more dengue cases in three consecutive weeks.
Malay has the highest number of dengue cases with 329, followed by Kalibo (284), Nabas (137), Libacao (122), and Numancia (120).
On a week-on-week comparison, dengue cases increased by 169 percent, from 99 between August 4 and August 10 to 267 between August 11 and August 17.
In a press briefing, Provincial Health Officer II Dr. Leslie Ann Luces-Sedillo urged the public to remain vigilant and strengthen the 5s strategy to combat the dengue: search and destroy mosquito breeding places, secure self-protection, seek early consultation, support fogging and spraying in hotspot areas, and sustain hydration.
Local government officials have yet to declare a dengue outbreak as of this writing amid the upward trend of vector-borne disease./PN
