Philippines dengue cases up 33% this year, death toll down

The Philippines Department of Health (DOH) reported last week the total dengue fever cases are up this year to date compared to the same period in 2023.

As of July 27, DOH has reported 128,834 dengue cases, a 33 percent increase from the same period in 2023 (97,211).

Photo by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases on Unsplash

The DOH said dengue cases are still on an uptrend, showing an increase from 12,153 cases recorded from June 16 to 29, to 18,349 cases from June 30 to July 13.

The regions which showed continuous rise in cases in the past six weeks are Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Cagayan Valley, and Calabarzon.

However, the death toll due to dengue has decreased about 11 percent compared to last year. Dengue deaths recorded this year at 337 is lower compared to last year’s 378 for the same time period.

Dengue is a disease caused by a virus spread through mosquito bites. The disease can take up to 2 weeks to develop with illness generally lasting less than a week.

Symptoms from dengue include fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, rash, muscle and joint pain, and minor bleeding.

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Dengue can become severe within a few hours. Severe dengue is a medical emergency, usually requiring hospitalization.

In severe cases, health effects can include hemorrhage (uncontrolled bleeding), shock (seriously low blood pressure), organ failure, and death.