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LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines — At least 66 residents have fallen ill of suspected typhoid fever in 18 villages in the town of Oas in Albay, the Provincial Health Office said Monday.
Cases of the water-borne disease began last May 16 and continued to surge until Monday, according to Dr. Nats Rempillo, Albay’s assistant provincial health officer, in his report to the Department of Health (DOH) in Bicol.
Rempillo said that of the suspected typhoid cases, 23 people were hospitalized at the Rebueno General Hospital in Oas; five cases were reported at the Josefina Belmonte Duran District Memorial District Hospital in Ligao City, four of whom had been discharged; 10 people were confined at the Bicol Regional Teaching and Training Hospital (BRTTH) in Daraga town, of whom 4 were discharged Monday.
Of those confined at BRTTH, one turned out to be positive for Salmonella D, said Rempillo.
Marilyn Palattao, head of the Provincial epidemiology unit, said the suspected typhoid cases were reported by the Oas Municipal Health Unit (MHU) on May 28 after suspected typhoid cases were monitored in the villages of Tobog, Bagumbayan, Mayao, Iraya, Talongog, Camagong, Ilaor Norte and Sur, Maporong, Obaliw and Bongoran, Saban, Manga, San Agustin, Balogo, and Gumabao, Cagmanaba and Busac. These villages are located about five to 10 kilometers from the Oas town proper.
The 66 villagers who were hospitalized were diagnosed to have suffered high fever for more than five days, dehydration and loose bowel (LBM), constipation, moderate to severe headache and weakness.
Municipal health records indicated that more than half of the people that fell sick were children (34) and 32 were adults with ages that ranged from one to 58 years old.
Pallatao, however, said her office could not declare the incidents as an outbreak since only the DOH Regional Epidemiologist could do so.
She said their initial findings revealed that the patients fell ill after drinking contaminated water sourced from the town’s water reservoir.
Pallatao said most of the households in the affected villages have been getting their drinking water from the town water reservoir.
Albay Governor Joey Salceda, as a disease control measure, directed the PHO and the Oas MHU to strictly implement household chlorination with the use of chlorine granules, aquatabs, chlorine solutions (waterine) and sanitation.
He also directed the PHO and MHU to examine all water sources and refilling stations that supply Oas.
The patients who were hospitalized were given free medical treatment while the rectal swabs from the patients and bacteriological examination conducted by the epidemiology team were sent to the Department of Health.