THE Cebu City Health Department reported in August an increase in the half-year (January to July) cases of dengue fever (DF) by 35.3 percent compared to last year’s. For 2010, DF infection reached a rate of one for every 1,000 Cebu City residents. It is good to know that the viral infection claimed only six lives for the same period compared to 13 in 2009. But as of Sept. 7, 11 children already died, with ages running between three and nine. The Cebu City Epidemiology Statistics and Surveillance Unit already recorded 1,175 DF cases this year, up 66 cases from last year. And the National Nutrition Council for Region 7 blamed it on malnourishment of city children, which weakened them against invading dengue viruses. A recent genomic study on dengue shock syndrome (DSS), the severe and life-threatening stage of dengue fever, indicated that DF influenced the expressive variations of 2,959 genes in the blood. The researchers found that individual genes strongly associated with DSS influ
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