ILOILO City – Mosquitoes spare no one.
Councilor Ely Estante was hospitalized on Monday night. He had dengue.
Finding himself with rashes and experiencing bouts of chills after a whole day of meeting with his staff, entertaining office visitors and poring over the city’s dengue statistics, he decided to have himself checked at the Iloilo Mission Hospital.
Doctors said Estante exhibited symptoms of dengue. His platelet count was also very low at 71; the normal was 150 to 400.
Meanwhile, two daughters of Maasin, Iloilo’s Mayor Francis Amboy were also hospitalized due to dengue.
Monday morning, his 12-year-old daughter had fever and was confirmed to have dengue after a laboratory test.
In the afternoon of the same day, the mayor’s seven-year old child was brought to the rural health unit of Maasin for a dengue test, too, and turned out positive.
Now, both girls are confined at QualiMed Hospital in Mandurriao district here.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection causing a severe flu-like illness that could sometimes be fatal. Its carriers are day-biting mosquitoes (Aedes albpictus and Aedes egypti) that live and breed and clean, stagnant water.
On July 12, the 10-year-old daughter of former mayor Jose “Jojo” De Paula of Janiuay, Iloilo died after two weeks of fighting with dengue.
De Paula said his only child died at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Iloilo Mission Hospital.
According to De Paula, they suspected that his daughter was suffering from the mosquito-borne disease when she started complaining of headache on June 26.
A police officer from San Remegio, Antique also died of dengue.
Staff Sergeant Marvin Borres Dalumpines had fever on June 4 but dismissed it as “ordinary.”
He sought treatment at the Antique Medical Center on June 7 and was eventually admitted after his laboratory results showed he was positive of dengue.
He was transferred to The Medical City in Iloilo City on June 11. He died on June 23.
According to the World Health Organization, individuals should suspect dengue when a high fever (40 degrees centigrade) is accompanied by two of the following symptoms: severe headache, pain behind the eyes, nausea / vomiting, swollen glands, muscle and joint pains, and rash.
For severe dengue, the warning signs to look out for are: severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, rapid breathing, bleeding gums, blood in vomit, fatigue, and restlessness./PN
