KORONADAL CITY, Philippines - Forty-seven people in Region 12, mostly children, have died of dengue infection from January to August 2013, records obtained from the regional health office showed.
The office of the Department of Health (DOH) for Region 12 recorded a total of 8,851 dengue cases in Central Mindanao during the period, higher by some 50 percent if compared to 2,773 cases for the whole year of 2012.
North Cotabato, which covers 17 towns and Kidapawan City, had the highest number of dengue cases, with 2,819 recorded infections, in the past eight months.
DOH employees in Gen. Santos City, recorded 17 deaths out of the 1,753 dengue cases in the area from January to August 2013.
Jenny Ventura, chief information officer of DOH-12, said 48 patients have died of dengue infection in different areas in the region during the past eight months, almost double of the recorded 26 deaths from January to December last year.