SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao (PNA) - At least 90 cases of dengue were monitored in Maguidanao's 36 municipalities from January to present, the provincial health office said on Sunday.
Dr. Tahir Sulaik, Maguindanao provincial health officer, said that of the 90 patients who contracted the deadly disease, one child-patient died while being treated at a government hospital in Cotabato City.
Dengue cases rose by 144 percent in the first half of this year.
Sulaik identified the town of Datu Odin Sinsuat as having the highest number of dengue cases during the first five months of this year.
Datu Odin, the biggest municipality of Maguindanao, has 29 dengue cases, most of them are in the hospital, followed by North Upi with 28 cases.
Parang, a coastal town in Maguindanao's first district, has 14 cases while Sultan Kudarat has 13, and Barira with 10.
The town of Talayan has two cases while the towns of Shariff Aguak and Mamasapano have one dengue patient each.
Raising alarm on the rising number of dengue cases, Sulaik has appealed to Maguindanao residents to clean their surroundings, inside and outside their homes and develop the habit of setting on fire some dried grasses to create smoke that would drive away the mosquitoes that carry the deadly dengue virus.
He urged the residents to empty bottles and containers inside their homes because these are breeding places of dengue-carrying mosquitoes
