Saturday, August 14, 2004 Gastro cases reach 4,535; death toll, 47 By Fred P. Macaraeg
SAN FERNANDO -- Gastroenteritis cases reached 4,535 from May 28 to August 8 in Pangasinan, said the Center for Health Development of the Department of Health in Region 1.
Not all these cases, however, were caused by cholera, clarified DOH Regional Director Eduard Janairo. Of the over 4,000 reported cases, only 160 cases from 42 towns and four cities in Pangasinan were confirmed to be cholera.
"The other cases had been caused by other sources," he said.
The death toll, moreover, was contained at 47.
There is, however, a rather disturbing finding by the health office: Diarrhea cases within the periphery of central Pangasinan were on the rise.
He said it is possible that gastroenteritis cases are on the increase because many have not been using chlorinated water for drinking and the monitoring operation of the local medical teams is not properly implemented
"Use chlorinated water in washing dishes and utensils and even in brushing your teeth because it would make your teeth whiter," he said.
The DOH regional director said though that travel in Pangasinan is not dangerous and there is no health risk in eating at restaurants in the province.
"If foods are well cooked, any microbe that can cause diarrhea, especially cholera, will die," he said.
Janairo said they included in the media briefing updates on the gastroenteritis situation in La Union province.
Cases in that province purportedly ballooned from 25 to 1,315. "But we have been containing the situation with only four deaths," he said.
As there is also emerging gastroenteritis cases in the Visayas, there is speculation the outbreak of the ailment is related to the onset of the rainy season.
Janairo said rainwater is not the direct cause of the ailment. The only participation of rain in the increasing cases of gastroenteritis is through a dirty environment.
He said the rain aids the microbes at the surface soil seep through to the water aquifer, which is the source of drinking water of many residents in a community.
"What is also to be clarified here is that the cholera incidence in Pangasinan has no relation to whatever is happening in the Visayas and Mindanao," he said.
He likewise brushed aside the notion that central and western Pangasinan are dirty so they have been affected by illness.
The DOH regional director said many places in Pangasinan that need to be given attention because they are low-lying areas and outlets of rivers whose water comes from the uplands.
Janairo cited the need to do away with dumping of garbage and excrete into the rivers and creeks, especially by children in the uplands. "We have to prohibit this and we need to watch our children," he said.
He said the health department's two-year monitoring of beaches in Region 1 revealed they have high coliform content.
Aside from the use of chlorinated water, another preventive measure cited is to avoid the purchase of ice if one is not sure of the source of water.
Janairo said parents should watch over their children because they might defecate anywhere.
"There are reported areas where children defecate anywhere and the waste might have contaminated the nearby shallow wells where they get their drinking water," he said.
He further disclosed that in San Carlos City, which has the most number of cases, there are some days when there is no reported case of diarrhea. The mayor in San Carlos is giving much importance to the advice of DOH to chlorinate the water.
Janairo said if the other places would do the same, the incidence of gastroenteritis would immediately subside.
"In places where the gastroenteritis had been first noted, the incidence of the disease was already going down because of our intervention but not in other places where there is no intervention yet," he said.
He lamented, however, that in Malasiqui, the first affected place, the number of cases is still high because the people there have not learned to drink chlorinated water.
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