MANILA, Philippines—Residents in nine out of the 10 villages in Tagaloan, Misamis Oriental, have been affected by a suspected cholera outbreak, that has claimed the lives of two people and sent hundreds to seek medical treatment.

Dr. Jaime Bernadas, director of the Center for Health Development in Northern Mindanao said that as of November 16, a total of 630 victims have been to the Tagoloan Rural Health Unit.

He said the patients were referred and admitted to the Tagaloan Polymedic General Hospital in Tagaloan; in Sabal Community Hospital in Puerto; and in Northern Mindanao Medical Center in Cagayan De Oro City.

Bernadas said the patients were mostly children as young as three months old.

Bernadas said preliminary findings showed there was an outbreak of "acute watery diarrhea" in Tagaloan.

"The community noted that their water supply was turbid after a heavy rain last week," Bernadas said in his report dated November 16.

Authorities urged households to boil or to chlorinate their water before drinking.

Bernadas said they asked the local government unit to "conduct a thorough evaluation of water source and piping system" and to continue the chlorination of water sources.

According to the World Health Organization website, cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingestion of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.

Transmission occurs through ingestion of contaminated water and food.

The disease is characterized in its most severe form by a sudden onset of acute watery diarrhea that can lead to death by severe dehydration and kidney failure.

The extremely short incubation period -- two hours to five days -- enhances the potentially explosive pattern of outbreaks, as the number of cases can rise very quickly.

Meanwhile, 90 people remain confined in the hospital in a typhoid fever outbreak in Real, Quezon, according to the Department of Health.

Dr. Gerardo Bayugo, director of the Center for Health Development in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) region, said 44 persons were admitted to the Claro M. Recto District Hospital last Nov. 17, Monday.

The next day, 17 people were brought to the hospital from within a span of four hours, according to Bayugo.

In his report to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III dated November 18, Bayugo said eight of the 15 water samples they took turned out positive for typhoid-causing bacteria.

According to the World Health Organization website, typhoid fever is a bacterial disease caused by Salmonella typhi.

It is transmitted through the ingestion of food or drink contaminated by feces or urine of infected people.

Bayugo said they also collected blood and stool specimens for laboratory analysis.

He said they started distributing Hyposol, a water disinfecting solution, to patients and some households.

He asked for additional manpower, medicines and medical supplies from the provincial health office and from the DOH.

He said they coordinated with the Office of the Mayor which promised to install a water chlorinator "as soon as possible."

He said they should also sustain the information and education campaign.

Symptoms of typhoid fever include high fever, malaise, headache, constipation or diarrhea, rose-colored spots on the chest and enlarged spleen and liver.

While typhoid fever can be treated with antibiotics, resistance to common antimicrobials is widespread.