In Iloilo, severe gastroenteritis cases now over 500

CLOSED | Personnel of the Iloilo City government, accompanied by policemen, closed on Sept. 8, 2022, some water refilling stations that were noncompliant with sanitary rules amid the rise of acute gastroenteritis cases in the city. (Photo from the Iloilo City Police Office)

ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — The number of acute gastroenteritis cases in the city and province of Iloilo has breached the 500 mark amid continuing efforts by the local governments to control the disease believed to be waterborne.

As of Sunday, the city’s Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (Esu) has recorded 522 cases of acute gastroenteritis while Iloilo province has 36 cases.

Since the start of the month, the Esu reported 296 cases, in addition to the 226 that were reported between April and the end of July. At least 10 fatalities were recorded in Iloilo City.

The City Proper had the most acute gastroenteritis cases at 125, followed by Molo (123), Arevalo (83), Jaro (76), La Paz (46), Lapuz (37) and Mandurriao (32).

Not going down yet

Most of the cases involved children, 145 of whom were male age 1 to 10 years old, followed by females of the same age at 108.

Iloilo City Health Officer Anabelle Tang on Monday said there has been no indication of cases going down yet despite the closures and inspections of water refilling stations, active case finding, and chlorination of identified deep wells across the city.

The city has a total of 380 water refilling stations. Of the 99 stations which were found noncompliant to sanitary rules, 71 have already been closed down. At least 38 of these were shut down by the Business Permits and Licensing Office and the City Health Office while the rest voluntarily stopped operating.

Tang said Metro Pacific Iloilo Water, the city’s water utilities distributor, has started delivering static tanks to the affected barangays.

Mayor Jerry Treñas said they have distributed 10,000 one-liter water bottles throughout 30 public elementary schools, three public secondary schools and the Iloilo City Division Office of the Department of Education.

Last Sept. 2, Iloilo City was placed under a state of calamity by its council amid the rising cases of acute gastroenteritis, allowing the local government to use P12 million from its quick response fund to purchase medicines and other supplies for three months.

Tang said the rise in cases may have been caused by broken water pipes, the torrential rains and flooding in the city in the last few months, and the shallow level of deep wells.

Tracing ongoing

In Iloilo province, Tigbauan town has the most number of cases at 10, followed by Oton (9), Leganes (5), Pavia and Santa Barbara (3 each), and Anilao, Barotac Nuevo, Dingle, New Lucena, Pototan and San Dionisio (1 each).

Iloilo Provincial Health Officer Maria Socorro Quiñon said on Monday that they are still investigating the source of the cases although two of the cases were traced to Iloilo City.

Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. said the province is actively monitoring cases of acute gastroenteritis and will be starting to inspect public markets, water sources, and other relevant facilities this week.

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