Sunday, July 11, 2004 Gastroenteritis claims 21 lives in Pangasinan By Fred P. Macaraeg
LINGAYEN -- Cases of gastroenteritis in Pangasinan has already reached 2,055 with recorded deaths of 21 persons in 38 days, report said.
As of July 6, San Carlos City and Malasiqui towns topped the other places in number of recorded cases and deaths.
The Department of Health (DOH) has declared an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis in six towns and a city in Pangasinan.
Gastroenteritis cropped up first in Malasiqui but the July 6 record of DOH and the Center for Health Development in Region I showed that San Carlos had the most number of cases with 654, while Malasiqui had 487 cases.
The other gastroenteritis-affected localities in the province are Bayambang(198); Basista(115); Calasiao(140); Mangaldan(76); Mangatarem(56); Sta. Barbara(43); Urbiztondo, 44; Binmaley(30); San Fabian(34); Dagupan City(24); Alcala(13); Lingayen(15); Basista(10);
Bugallon(7); Aguilar(5); Bolinao(23); San Jacinto(5); Pozorrubio(12); Rosales(2); Umingan(1); Urdaneta City(1); Agno(4); Anda(6); Alaminos City(2); Asingan(1); Bani(4); Burgos(3); Dasol(3); Laoac(3); Labrador, (3); Manaoag(6); Mapandan(15); Natividad(1), San Nicolas(7); Sison(1); and Tayug(1).
San Carlos and Malasiqui also topped in the number of deaths with 7 and 4, respectively. Mangaldan had three deaths while there were two deaths recorded in Basista and Binmaley. Bugallon had one death recorded.
But Dr. Revelyn Cayabyab, DOH regional epidemiologist, said cases of gastroenteritis in places where the ailment started, like San Carlos and Malasiqui, had already been waning.
"However, there are some other places where cases have been increasing," she said.
She said there is diarrhea all year round but the occurrence increases during the rainy season there is penetration of the ground surface to the water table.
"If our environment is dirty, it will contaminate the water table and one may get sick if he drinks it and if there are microorganisms in it," the epidemiologist said.
As to why the incidence of diarrhea, Cayabyab said there could be someone who had brought the microorganism in the province.
She pointed out that with the many people and the frequent movement of people, it is hard to trace the person who had been ill.
"There had been some occurrences of cholera last year. There were some persons who had been ill in Basista. It could be that they have contaminated some others who also became ill but not serious diarrhea and they happened to visit some other towns and did not have clean human waste disposal, it would pollute the environment. When it rains, the microorganisms in the environment would penetrate the water table," she said.
Citing that the decrease would depend on the people, she said they should continuously drink chlorinated water and they attend barangay assembly called for by the medical team so that they would know how to evade being contracting the ailment.
Cayabyab lamented that some people do not believe that the source of the ailment. "They said that other members of family are also drinking water from that well and they have not been affected," she said.
She said the ones prone to the illness are the children whose immune system are not yet developed to give them good resistance.
"The aged, who had been exposed little by little to these microorganisms during their younger days, have already developed a resistance against the microorganisms. So even if they have drunk contaminated water, they would not no longer be affected by the microorganisms because their body already gets acquainted with these microorganisms," she said.
Due to complaints against water districts because of dirty water coming out from the faucets of clients, Cayabyab called on the management of water districts to make sure the water they have delivering to their consumers is safe.
"They should see the physical quality of their water because anybody would feel uncomfortable to drink a dirty water," she said.
The water district, she said, should also maintain the prescribed chlorine level in the water and should be monitoring it.
Cayabyab also called on the water refilling stations to have their water examined to assure that the said purified water that they have been selling is safe.
She cited the need for the local government units to exercise their police power because it is the LGUs that are supposed to be monitoring these water-refilling stations.
The government officials "should ask for the result of the examination of the water of these refilling stations and if there is none, then they direct them to have their water examined."
She said the local chief executives should be strict in the issuance of business permit to the water-refilling establishments.
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