Cholera in water eyed as 31 hospitalized in South Cotabato

KORONADAL CITY — Health authorities here said they suspect cholera or food poisoning behind Wednesday’s hospitalization of at least 31 persons in Tantangan, South Cotabato.

Dr. Renato Ureta, Tantangan municipal health officer, said Thursday they were awaiting results of laboratory tests on the patients, 21 of whom remained at the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital due to diarrhea.

Ureta said among the things they were looking into was the possibility that the local water system in Barangay New Iloilo was contaminated with cholera-causing bacteria.

However, he said they were not discounting food poisoning as the victims attended a birthday party before they got sick.

Ureta said they had advised villagers to boil their drinking water as a precaution.