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Monday, February 07, 2005
Typhoid cases soar to 170; health office alarmed
By Maricar Aranas, Hermie B. Tresquio and Neil C. Rio
SIBULAN, Negros Oriental -- The number of confirmed typhoid fever cases from this town as of Feb. 2 has soared to 133 out of the 170 reported incidents at the end of January.
Figures obtained by Sun.Stat Dumaguete from the annex building of the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital (NOPH) showed 24 patients.
But the number of admitted cases at the hospital's pediatric wards was not immediately known.
The number of other patients admitted to the two other hospitals in Dumaguete City has remained unaccounted.
Records at NOPH as of Feb. 2 showed one typhoid case each from Amlan, Tanjay City, Dumaguete City, and Bacong.
Dr. Clarita Cadiz, head of NOPH's Department of Medicine, said the hospital admitted some 50 typhoid fever patients at the start of the week, but most have since been treated and left.
Typhoid fever is an infection caused by salmonella typhi and characterized by bacteremia, ulceration of the lymphoid tissue of the small intestine, and generalized toxemia.
The mortality rate is five to 25 percent. Elderly patients do poorly.
Carriers can be a serious public health problem.
Dr. Cadiz explained that typhoid fever results from eating food and water that are contaminated with salmonella typhi.
Symptoms of the disease include recurring head and stomachaches and fever and diarrhea.
In worst situation, the patient becomes blind and mentally-affected.
The fever cure Chloromphenicol ceftrione costs P1,500 a capsule.
Meanwhile, Governor George Arnaiz cautioned the public against blaming the spread of the disease to the water supply from the Sibulan Water District (Siwad).
Arnaiz told reporters at the gender sensitivity training at Plaza Maria Luisa on Feb. 1 that based on records, some of the patients were from outside Sibulan and, therefore, not using Siwad supply.
Earlier, Sun.Star Dumaguete learned from 24 patients admitted for typhoid fever at NOPH that 11 used Siwad water supply and the rest get their water from pumps and springs.
Teresita Mendez, Siwad general manager, said her people are inspecting the district's water lines to determine possibilities of contamination.
Mendez said some of those with the fever Do not use their water supply and others live in areas not covered by Siwad's water connection.
Sibulan Mayor Antonio Renacia meantime sought an investigation into an unconfirmed report that workers of the Department of Public Works and Highways accidentally hit a Siwad pipeline while constructing a drainage in Barangay Looc.
The leak from the pipe was believed to have caused the contamination of the water supply.
So far most of the typhoid fever cases were from the villages of Looc, poblacion, San Antonio, Cangmating, Bolobboloc, Ajong, and Tubod.
On the other hand attempts to declare a state of calamity in the municipality failed to push through.
Under the rules and regulations of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, a local government unit can declare a state of calamity only if ten percent of its population is affected.
Sibulan has a population estimated at 37,000.
Renacia said declaring a state of calamity would have enabled the municipality to get the P2 million calamity fund that would have been used to treat the infected residents.
City health alarmed
Meanwhile Dumaguete City health officer Erlinda Cabrera expressed alarm over the increasing number of typhoid fever cases in Sibulan.
The municipality and the city share a common boundary and residents from Sibulan go to Dumaguete daily.
Dr. Cabrera said that it was possible that some individuals visiting Dumaguete City daily might already have the bacteria in their system but have not yet shown any symptoms of the disease.
To avert any possible occurrence in the city, the health office began Wednesday a series of barangay lectures to inform the people on preventive measures against typhoid fever.
The first and the second of the series was in Barangay Buñao Wednesday and Bantayan Thursday, the two city barangays closest to Sibulan.
(February 6, 2005 issue)
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