Diarrhea cases in 3 Albay towns alarm health execs

LEGAZPI City, Philippines—Health authorities in Albay have expressed alarm over the rise of diarrhea cases in the towns of Daraga, Malinao and Polangui.

Assistant Provincial Health Officer Nathaniel Rempillo said Gov. Joey Salceda has ordered that a health assessment team be sent to Barangay (village) Lacag in Daraga after a high number of diarrhea cases were reported in the village since Monday. Already, two elderly residents have died, 15 people have been hospitalized at the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital, and 15 others treated as outpatients but have since recovered.

Rempillo identified the fatalities as Maria Napulis, 84, and Reynaldo Amaranto, 66.

Twenty-five cases were also reported in Malinao and another 13 cases in Polangui. Malinao and Polangui were heavily flooded by Tropical Storm “Juaning” on August 25 and 26.

Rempillo said the governor also sent a water purifier and a water lorry to the affected towns after flash floods destroyed the affected towns’ water sources.

“We have already conducted an epidemiological study at Barangay Lacag to assess the cause of outbreak,” Rempillo said Wednesday.

Their initial investigation, however, pinpointed a contaminated potable water source as the possible cause of the diarrhea cases in Lacag because a health team discovered that the open well where residents get their drinking water was only about five meters from an old septic tank, said Rempillo.

Rempillo also said that oral rehydration solutions (oresol) and antibiotics have been distributed to the affected municipalities while the cases were being monitored closely.

“We are also waiting for the water analysis results at the BRTTH laboratory so we will know the causative organism,” Rempillo added.

Daraga Mayor Gerry Jaucian, meanwhile, appealed to his residents to boil their drinking water to get rid of water-borne diseases.

Last month, the village of Gapo, also in Daraga, was also hit by a diarrhea outbreak that was traced to a contaminated open well that was the source of the village’s drinking water.