LINGAYEN – The dreaded dengue disease continues to rampage in Pangasinan this rainy season with nine persons already listed dead, from a total 384 suspected cases reported so far.

Records of the Provincial Health Office here showed there were fatalities recorded in July from the towns of Basista, Sison and Alaminos.

Six more deaths were registered from Aug. 1 to 16 in Lingayen, Calasiao, Bayambang, San Nicolas, Sison and Dagupan City.

The PHO said of the 384 suspected cases reported, 188 of these were confirmed dengue cases.

Dr. Jesus Canto, chief of the Region I Medical Center operated by the Department of Health, admitted that based on statistics on admission of his hospital lately, dengue cases are really on the rise.

He confirmed that for the first time last week, a child died at Region I Medical Center due to dengue as it was too late when his parents decided to bring him to the hospital.
Although there are more cases being registered now, Canto said this is not an indication of outbreak because the cases are still manageable.

This was corroborated by Dr. Gloria Balboa, DOH assistant regional director, who said the number of cases that were recorded has not reached the threshold level to warrant declaration of an epidemic.

She based her statement on the fact the number of cases this year is still way below last year’s recorded cases.

Dr. Leonard Carbonell, city health officer of Dagupan, said there are now 79 dengue fever cases in the city, slightly higher than last year’s 49 but, according to him, this is not at an alarming level yet.