LUCENA CITY – The number of victims of suspected typhoid in Real, Quezon, rose to 109 on Tuesday, the local government doctor said on Wednesday.

“We expect the number of sick persons to increase because that’s the usual trend in these cases,” Dr. Epifanio Crisostomo, municipal health officer, told the Inquirer over the phone.

On Monday, Crisostomo first reported that at least 84 residents had been downed by a still undetermined illness since Saturday.

“Though most of the patients show symptoms of typhoid fever, we cannot officially declare that it is typhoid because we have yet to finish the laboratory tests on the blood samples taken from ‘virgin cases’,” he said.

Virgin cases refer to those who had not taken any medication when their blood samples were taken.

Not conclusive

“In two days, we will have the confirmatory result of the laboratory examination,” he said.

Crisostomo revealed that most of the patients were found positive in the typhidot test, a rapid laboratory examination for typhoid fever.

“The test is not yet conclusive. So we still consider the rest of the patients as ‘probable’ typhoid fever cases,” he stressed.

He said a spring in Barangay Cawayan, where most of the affected residents live, could be the source of the waterborne illness that causes prolonged fever, stomach pains and irregular bowel movement.

“We advised the residents near the area to temporarily stop getting water from that spring. We also advised them to boil their water first before drinking,” Crisostomo said.

He said the sick persons were confined at the Claro M. Recto Memorial Hospital in nearby Infanta town.

Others were brought to private clinics in Real, according to him.

Help

Maj. Gen. Delfin Bangit, head of the Army Southern Luzon Command, dispatched a team of Army doctors and nurses on Wednesday to help the municipal government treat the affected residents.

“We will also bring medicines and other basic items for the affected residents,” said Capt. Leah Santiago, Solcom spokesperson.

Real is a third-class municipality (annual income: P21 million-P27 million) facing the Pacific Ocean, 133 kilometers from the capital city of Lucena.

Hepatitis

In General Nakar, another town in northern Quezon, at least four high school students were reportedly downed by Hepatitis A.

Mayor Leovigildo Rozul said he immediately ordered local health officials to determine the source of the illness.

“I asked them to thoroughly check on the cleanliness of eateries in the perimeter of the school,” he said over the phone.