Thursday, November 01, 2007 High fever cases in Alegria reach 100
PATIENTS affected with high fever in Alegria town, in southern Cebu have reached 100.
This is according to the Integrated Provincial Health Office (Ipho) and the Municipal Health Office.
Although the Ipho immediately acted by distributing antibiotics to the patients, it has yet to confirm what type of fever the patients are suffering.
There are no results yet on the rectal swabs conducted last Oct. 27.
Increase
Dr. Cristina Giango, chief of the Ipho, said she expects the results on Monday.
The patients were from Sitios Inghoy and Dugyan in the mountain barangay of Valencia.
Some residents started feeling ill during the first week of October.
Although the number of patients increased, it has been contained, said Dr. Samson dela Peña, Alegria municipal health officer.
No calamity
Dela Peña told Sun.Star Cebu in a phone interview yesterday that there is no need to declare a state of calamity just yet.
He said there was immediate response from the Ipho, which distributed antibiotics to the patients.
The Ipho conducted rectal swabs from a dozen patients last Saturday.
This was done to ascertain what bacterium was in their system.
Examination
While municipal health officials suspect that typhoid fever caused the illness of the residents, it cannot be confirmed unless results of the laboratory examination from the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center come out.
Typhoid fever is a life-threatening illness caused by the bacterium salmonella typhi/typhosa. It is “more common in areas where hand washing is less frequent and water is likely to be contaminated with sewage,” according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Alegria Mayor Raul Guisadio earlier said there are indications that the source of drinking water made the residents sick.
Dugyan is near Alegria’s boundary with Dalaguete town, which Guisadio said has a livelihood project that involves dairy products.
The mayor suspects that wastes from the dairy products factory were thrown into the river. And when it rains, the river overflows into the spring box that services Dugyan. (JGA)
