Pneumonia top killer in Davao
January 16, 2013 at 02:29pm
Data showed that pneumonia killed 1,115 people in Davao City from January up to November of 2012. The CHO has yet to include data from December of 2012 as it is still collating as of Tuesday.
Alhough it remains the top killer disease in Davao City for two years, the number of deaths caused by pneumonia decreased by 28 cases compared to that of 2011 which recorded 1,143 deaths.
Pneumonia is an infection of one or both lungs which is usually caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi.
However, pneumonia ranked fourth as the top causes of mortality in the city with 1,201 cases in the five-year average data of 2006-2010.
In the five-year average data of 2006-2010, cerebrovascular disease, a group of brain dysfunctions related to disease of the blood vessels supplying the brain, topped with 2,185 cases, followed by atheroscierosis (hardening of the arteries), senile having 1,358; and diseases of the heart with 1,357 cases.
Dr. Josephine Villafuerte, CHO chief, said: "It's because at the time you are sick, you are already high risk. You are susceptible to all kinds of infection.”
Villafuerte advised people to undergo a medical checkup saying: "When you have difficulty of breathing with cough and fever, pa-admit na dayon sa hospital. You don't treat it as if it's an ordinary cough because you might already have pneumonia."
Source: sunstar.com.ph
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