Fish, salad eyed in poisoning of family in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY – A family excursion turned ugly when more than a dozen persons, including three children, were downed after eating grilled fish and macaroni salad in Maguindanao on Sunday.

“Almost everyone simultaneously complained stomach ache, many vomited while others rushed to the beach comfort rooms due to loose bowel movement,” Alice Upi, one of the victims, told reporters.

More than 12 persons are now confined at the Cotabato Sanitarium in Barangay Pinaring, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

Upi said other family members also complained of abdominal pain but were not hospitalized.

Attending physician Dr. Halima Mokamad Romancap said they victims had the same complaint.

The initial findings showed that “they were victims of food poisoning,” Romancap said.

“They all ate grilled fish and macaroni salad and complained of the same pain, it could be a case of food poisoning,” she said.

“But we could not take to laboratory tests samples of fish and salad because they quickly discharged the food,” she added.

But she said laboratory tests of the victims’ vomit showed they have traces of amoeba.

“We were all happy, took our lunch together and went back to the water,” Upi recalled. “Suddenly, everybody was complaining.”

Shukra Adam was in tears when she told reporters six of the victims were her children, three of whom have developed fever after the incident.

Adam could not say whether the grilled fish or the macaroni salad caused them abdominal pain.

“We quickly disposed of the food as we were all rushed to the hospital,” she added.

“They were all weak. We need to rehydrate them to stabilize their condition,” Romancap said, adding that since all the patients feasted on the same food it can be considered a case of “food poisoning.”