REGION 8 – The Department of Health (DOH) recorded 5,090 dengue fever cases with 65 deaths from January to July 28 this year, marking a 500% increase of rates compared to the same period last 2009 with over a thousand cases and 12 casualties.

The number is the highest ever since DOH started its monitoring in 1998. Tacloban City alone posted more than one-fourth or 1,279 of the total reported incidents including 19 recorded deaths.

Up to this time, the number of dengue victims, 90% of which are children, is continually increasing which cause crowding in public and private hospitals. The Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) had asked for additional 50 beds exclusively for dengue patients.

The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) Tacloban chapter is on alert for possible dengue outbreak and the occurrence of other diseases related to the onset of the rainy season. They keep on reminding the public to undertake precautionary measures to prevent the spread of dengue fever like cleaning their surroundings especially inside their houses, practicing proper waste disposal method, and removing possible mosquito-breeding sites such as water-filled flower pots, plastic bags, and cans.

Dengue, also known as “break-bone fever”, is an acute infectious disease manifested initially with fever. It is transmitted by “aedes aegypti”, a day-biting, striped mosquito that has previously bitten an infected person. The signs and symptoms include fever, joint and muscle pain, headache, weakness, skin rashes, abdominal pain, dark-colored stools and vomiting of coffee-colored matter.

In the Philippines, people has found alternative cure to this illness. This weed called Gatas Gatas (excluding the roots) is mixed with clean water and is boiled for a minute to extract its juice. Once it is extracted, it is now ready for the patient to intake the Gatas Gatas tea. One (1) to 1.5 glass of Gatas Gatas tea is the advisable amount to drink every hour.