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Sunday, February 06, 2005
Health officials alarmed over soar of typhoid cases
By Maricar Aranas, Hermie B. Tresquio and Neil C. Rio
NEGROS ORIENTAL -- Health officials of Negros Oriental were alarmed over the increasing number of typhoid fever cases admitted in government hospitals in the province.
Dumaguete City health officer Erlinda Cabrera is alarmed over the increasing number of typhoid fever cases in the town of Sibulan in the province of Negros Oriental.
The town and the city share a common boundary and residents from Sibulan go to Dumaguete daily.
Cabrera said it is 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.
Records showed that the number of confirmed typhoid fever cases from Sibulan town as of Feb. 2 has soared to 170 from the 133 reported incidents at the end of January.
In Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital (NOPH), 24 patients with typhoid fever were admitted. However patients admitted to the two other hospitals in Dumaguete City remained unaccounted for.
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 been treated.
Typhoid fever is a bacterial infection of the intestinal tract and occasionally the bloodstream. The germ that causes typhoid is a unique human strain of salmonella called Salmonella typhi.
Typhoid germs are passed in the feces and, to some extent, the urine of infected people.
Cadiz explained that typhoid fever results from eating food and water that are contaminated with Salmonella typhi.
Symptoms may be mild or severe and may include fever, headache, constipation or diarrhea, rose-colored spots on the trunk and an enlarged spleen and liver. Relapses are common. Fatalities are less than one percent with antibiotic treatment. Symptoms generally appear one to three weeks after exposure.
Specific antibiotics such as chloramphenicol, ampicillin or ciprofloxacin are often used to treat cases of typhoid.
Carriers can be a serious public health problem.
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 that some of the patients were from outside Sibulan and therefore, not using Siwad supply.
Earlier, Sun.Star learned that from 24 patients admitted for typhoid fever at NOPH, 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.
(February 6, 2005 issue)
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