Saturday, October 27, 2007 8 children in Alegria get sick with high fever
MUNICIPAL health officials will conduct rectal swabs among the eight children and teenagers from Barangay Valencia in Alegria, southern Cebu who were hospitalized with high fever.
They are trying to confirm the cause of the illness following reports that the patients were showing symptoms of typhoid fever.
Mayor Raul Guisadio told Sun.Star Cebu that if indeed it is typhoid fever, he is sure that it was not because of water.
Typhoid fever is a water or food-borne disease.
Guisadio said that Alegria water is from Sitio Inghay in Valencia.
Instead, the mayor believes that it could just be because of the changing weather.
The mayor, though, asked that samples from the water source be tested.
Food handlers
Typhoid fever is caused by the bacterium salmonella typhosa.
Guisadio also wants to check food handlers in the area.
Alegria Municipal Health Officer Samson dela Peña said the patients were aged between nine and 18.
They had fever as high as 38 to 41 degrees Celsius.
The high fever made dela Peña and others suspect typhoid fever.
Typhoid fever is characterized by “spiking fever as high as 39 degrees,” said Dr. Lakshmi Legaspi, assistant director of the Department of Health (DOH) 7.
Another symptom of typhoid is body malaise.
Typhoid fever can be treated with antibiotics.
Dela Peña said the Municipal Health Office already sent antibiotics to the children who were admitted at the neighboring Badian District Hospital.
Some were already discharged.
The doctor also clarified that although there were already eight patients from Sitios Inghay and Malalag in Barangay Valencia, it is not considered an outbreak.
Today, dela Peña will lead a team to the sitios to conduct rectal swabs among the patients to confirm what caused the illness.
One can get typhoid fever by eating food or drinking beverages that have been handled by a person shedding the bacteria or if sewage is contaminated and gets into the water used for drinking or for washing food.
It may also spread through flies that may have been through feces contaminated with the bacteria. (JGA)
