8-year-old boy dies from dengue in Negros Occ.

An eight-year-old boy from Himamaylan City in Negros Occidental died from the dengue Thursday, after getting medical help too late. The boy was the 21st dengue-related death this year in Negros Occidental and the sixth in Himamaylan, news site Visayan Daily Star reported Saturday. The report did not name the boy, who was rushed to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) in Bacolod City, but he was already in critical condition. CLMMRH doctor Ceres Baldevia of the CLMMRH said the boy's mother said he had fever for three days but she did not bring him to a hospital for treatment because it was “trangkaso lang (just flu)." When his fever subsided after the third day, the mother said she gave her son a bath and he started vomiting blood. This prompted her to rush him to the Valeriano Gatuslao Memorial Hospital in Himamaylan City. The boy arrived at the Himamaylan hospital with no more blood pressure and was later rushed to the CLMMRH, Baldevia said. “At the CLMMRH we tried to stabilize his condition but he kept bleeding and we lost him after about seven to eight hours," Baldevia said. She said the public must be informed that if a patient has been suffering from fever above 38 degrees he must be brought to a doctor for treatment. One should not wait beyond 24 hours, Baldevia said. “It is not okay to dismiss it as just a fever and not seek medical help because one could die," she warned. Meanwhile, the Department of Health had cited a 50-percent increase in dengue cases if the first seven months compared to same period last year. It said that some 40,000 new cases of dengue have been recorded first seven months of 2010. [See: Dengue cases up by 50% from last year] Dengue cases nationwide have reached 40,648 from January to July 31, 2010, which is 48% higher than the 27,473 cases recorded during the same period last year, the DOH said in its surveillance report. Deaths caused by the disease likewise went up from 293 last year to 328 this year, the report further noted. — LBG, GMANews.TV