Water supply causes next wave of ‘typhoid’ cases

Contaminated water supply in a mountain barangay in Alegria town, Cebu, has downed almost 100 persons, many of them children.

Dr. Cristina Giango, Cebu provincial health officer, said the cases were “alarming” because of a previous typhoid outbreak in Alegria in December last year.

Patients started showing up last week at the town’s Reinheart Wertgen Memorial Hospital with high fever, colds, muscle pain and exhaustion.

Giango, who visited barangay Valencia yesterday, said a chlorinator device of the local waterworks system got disabled by a landslide.

She urged Alegria town to upgrade its water system.

“The problem may keep recurring if the water system is not improved,” she said.

The cases called attention anew to a common problem of lack of potable water in Cebu’s rural areas, where communities rely on springs and deep wells for drinking and cleaning.

About 750 patients fell ill of typhoid in Alegria town in December last year prompting the town to declare a state of calamity. Victims came from other  barangays of  Pablacion, Sta. Filomena, San Roque and Malubog.

Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia in a text message to CDN said the Capitol would act on the problem.

“We will prioritize Alegria in improving their water system. But right now, my immediate concern is addressing the typhoid problem and providing safe, potable water,” she said.  She was in South Cotabato yesterday on official business.

In her State of the Province Address (Sopa) last July 15, Garcia cited the establishment of “59 waterworks systems” in the province as one of her administration’s top accomplishments aside from Cebu’s P28.6 billion assets, which make Cebu the “richest” and “strongest” province in the country.

Last year, Garcia said waterworks would be the top priority in her last term as governor.  She said Alegria town was provided water pipes by the province.

A medical team yesterday took blood samples from patients  and water samples from an open spring, which is the source of potable water of barangay Valencia in the uplands with a population of about 3,000.

Specimens have to be sent to Manila to verify whether the wave of illness is typhoid.  Results will take about a week.

Typhoid fever is an acute, life-threatening illness caused by the bacterium Salmonella enterica.

People fall ill from drinking water or eating food contaminated by the human waste of another person infected with the bacteria.

Few households in Valencia have toilets. With the onset of rains, the risk of human feces being washed to open water sources goes up.

On Monday, 81 cases of suspected typhoid fever in Alegria town were reported by the Capitol. Yesterday, Dr. Giango told GMA 7 News that 17 more cases were reported, bringing the total to 98.

Out of that number, 27 were admitted to the Badian District Hospital. Other patients went to Reinhart Wertgen Memorial Hospitals or stayed at home.

A health team visited the barangay last July 16, Saturday, and distributed medicine, said Dr. Samson dela Peña,  the municipal health officer who joined the group.

Yesterday, they went back with a team from the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (Resu) led by Dr. Expedito Medalla to get blood and water samples.

Video footage of GMA 7 “Balitang Bisdak” showed the barangay’s open spring with a blue plastic drum, the damaged chlorinator device.

Dr. Giango said the town’s health office is supposed to conduct regular water sampling but the damaged chlorinator may have been overlooked.

A town resident in his midthirties told CDN Alegria’s waterworks system was very old.

“It’s been the same one existing since I was born,” he said.

After last December’s typhoid outbreak, many residents stopped drinking from the municipal waterworks or would boil the water first.

“We only use the water for taking a bath or washing clothes,” said PO1 Rolando Luage of the Alegria police station.

He said the police station buys gallons of mineral water for drinking. /Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus