Department of Health. INQUIRER FILES
The Department of Health (DOH) has reported a surge in food and waterborne diseases, especially bloody diarrhea, typhoid fever, and rotavirus infections, for the first quarter of 2023 and as the country entered the dry season last month.
In its latest weekly disease surveillance report covering the period between Jan. 1 and March 18, the DOH said that there were 3,140 cases of acute bloody diarrhea, an increase of 101 percent compared to 1,561 cases during the same period last year.
There was also a 101 percent rise in the number of people who suffered from typhoid fever—3,285 compared to 1,633 from the same period in 2022.
Rotavirus cases, on the other hand, reached 983, up by 123 percent from the 420 cases reported during the same period last year.
DOH officer in charge Maria Rosario Vergeire on Wednesday attributed the significant increases in food and waterborne diseases to water supply issues in some parts of the country, as well as the refocused disease surveillance program this year.
“We have to consider that during the first two years of the pandemic, the focus of surveillance was mostly channeled for COVID-19,” Vergeire said at a press briefing.
She also cited the reported water shortage affecting some communities that forced residents to store water. Contaminated water, Vergeire pointed out, “may cause illnesses.”
She earlier warned the public about a possible outbreak of food and waterborne and gastrointestinal diseases amid the threat of El Niño and a possible shortage in water supply during the dry season.
In announcing the official start of the dry season on March 21, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration cautioned people against “warmer temperatures” and rainfall caused by easterlies and localized thunderstorms. It also called on the public to “optimize the daily use” of water for domestic consumption.
READ: Beware of disease outbreaks amid intense heat, water shortage – DOH