SunStar: Dengue kills 3 more in Cebu town

After claiming six lives in Minglanilla town in Cebu province, dengue claimed at least three more lives in the neighboring town of Naga. Sun Star Cebu, however, reported on Saturday that the health department’s regional epidemiological surveillance unit did not consider the cases to be “that alarming." No details were immediately available on the identities of the fatalities, or when they died. This developed as the Department of Health (DOH), voicing alarm over the “epidemic proportions" of dengue in nearby Minglanilla town, has sent a fact-finding team there. It said the team will have three units involved in health education, surveillance, and environmental mattes. The team was tasked to confirm if the dengue outbreak there stemmed from garbage, stagnant water and other environmental concerns that allowed dengue-carrying mosquitoes to breed. Health officials noted at least six deaths in three villages in the town - Tulay, Pakigne and Tungkop. Four of the deaths occurred in the last 13 days alone. But the DOH said it is still up to the municipal health office, to declare a state of calamity in the area. The victims in Minglanilla were aged four to seven. As of June 23, Minglanilla recorded 35 dengue cases since the start of the year, with two deaths. The two deaths were that of a five-year-old boy recorded on June 4, and a six-year-old girl reported on June 16. - GMANews.TV