Just one month after Philippines House of Representatives Speaker, Feliciano Belmonte contracted and was hospitalized with the mosquito borne viral disease, veteran Senator Juan Ponce Enrile has been taken to a hospital in Makati suffering from dengue.

Juan Ponce Enrile/U.S. Embassy photo.
Juan Ponce Enrile/U.S. Embassy photo.

The 91-year-old is being treated and is currently under observation at Makati Medical Center.

“His platelet went down already. They are monitoring it naman. (He was rushed to the hospital) a few hours ago, about seven hours ago,” his daughter, Katrina Ponce Enrile told local media.

From the beginning of the year to August 8, 55,079 dengue cases were reported in the archipelago, up about 5,000, or 9%, from the same period in 2014, according to Department of Health (DOH) spokesman, Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy.

Dengue fever is an infectious disease carried by mosquitoes and caused by any of four related dengue viruses. This disease was once called called “break-bone fever” because it sometimes causes severe joint and muscle pain that feels like bones are breaking.

Dengue fever of multiple types is found in most countries of the tropics and subtropics particularly during and after rainy season.

There are four types of dengue virus: DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4.

People get the dengue virus from the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito. It is not contagious from person to person.

There are three types of dengue fever in order of less severe to most: the typical uncomplicated dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHS) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS).

Robert Herriman is a microbiologist and the Editor-in-Chief of Outbreak News Today and the Executive Editor of The Global Dispatch

Follow @bactiman63

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