Baguio City has reached the highest dengue case count in its entire history despite the reported ongoing downtrend of dengue incidence, according to the City Health Services Office (CHSO).
As of Thursday this week, the city has logged a total of 5,505 dengue cases, the highest in its entire history. The case count is some 753 percent higher than last year’s 645 cases throughout the entirety of 2023.
According to City Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (CESU) head Donnabel Panes, while the number of dengue cases per week began dropping in May, dengue incidence continues to be high.
A total of 12 deaths from the disease have been reported this year.
According to the CHSO, part of the reason for the casualties was that the majority of cases were brought to medical attention at severe stages, and many patients reportedly had comorbidities or other medical conditions alongside their dengue fever.
The Baguio City Anti-Dengue Task Force also cited that despite continued information campaigns and intensified anti-dengue efforts, many households still fail to implement prevention measures, such as the destruction of potential mosquito-breeding places.
The CHSO Baguio’s Sanitation Division, which works with communities at the barangay level to help implement dengue prevention measures, at least 241 households in the 10 barangays they have operated with at the latest were in violation of the city’s anti-dengue ordinance.
Meanwhile, the Benguet province capital has seen a lower case incidence than Baguio City. However, the continued high incidence of dengue in the province overall has the local government mulling responses.
According to La Trinidad Mayor Romeo Salda, the local La Trinidad government is waiting on advice from local health authorities to determine whether the municipality should declare a full state of calamity over dengue.
