The Municipality of Pateros posted the lowest number of dengue cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) but has the fourth highest attack rate.
Data from the Department of Health (DOH) showed that from Jan. 1 to July 9, Pateros, the smallest local government unit (LGU) in Metro Manila, had 33 dengue cases, the lowest in NCR.
However, Pateros recorded the fourth highest attack rate of dengue with 4.71 per 10,000 individuals based on its total population of 69,994. Attack rate is based on the number of cases divided by the total population in an area.
Malabon has the highest attack rate of dengue in the NCR with 14.1 per 10,000 population.
During a media briefing last July 12, Health Usec. Maria Rosario Vergeire said 15 of the 17 regions in the country have already surpassed the epidemic threshold for dengue, or the number of cases in one area has surpassed what was expected based on data from the same period last year.
Vergeire said the dengue situation in the country is “worrisome” as regions have posted increases in the number of cases.
According to the World Health Organization, dengue is “a viral infection transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes.”
Dengue is transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which breed in clear and stagnant water, according to Vergeire.
She encouraged people to do the "4 o’clock habit" of going out and helping in searching and destroying mosquito breeding sites.
Based on the DOH data, the NCR tallied 6,079 dengue cases from Jan. 1 to July 9 this year with an attack rate of 4.31 per 10,000 population.