|
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Typhoid downs 752 Laguna residents
MANILA -- A team of doctors from the Department of Health (DOH) were deployed to Calamba, Laguna after a total of 752 residents from six barangays in the province were hit by typhoid fever.
No death was reported yet, but the disease has a 10 percent fatality rate.
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
Dr. Eric Tayag, head of the National Epidemiology Center (NEC), said the DOH team is still verifying the cause of the outbreak although 27 of the patients were found positive of the bacteria salmonella typhi.
Those affected by the outbreak, which started since January, were residents of barangays Singko, Lecheria, Halang, Bukal, Pansol, and La Mesa.
"Lecheria has the highest attack rate with two percent," added Tayag.
The DOH is also coordinating with Calamba hospitals to verify reports that typhoid cases have actually reached more than a thousand.
The symptoms of typhoid fever include temperature as high as 40 degree Celsius, stomach pains, headache, loss of appetite, and a rash of flat, rose-colored spots.
Typhoid fever is common in the developing world where the disease affects an estimated 21.5 million people annually, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
Sharing food and drinks with an infected person or sewage contaminated with salmonella typhi bacteria spreads it. The bacterium multiplies itself once it gets into the bloodstream.
The CDC added that the disease is common in places where hand washing is rarely practiced and in contaminated sewage.
According to Tayag, water samples taken from the barangays tested negative for coliform bacteria, which are used to determine other forms of contamination.
Antibiotics were already sent by the DOH to treat patients as reports show that some Calamba government facilities are running out of medicines.
Tayag advised residents to boil their drinking water and to frequently wash their hands to avoid spreading the disease. (MSN/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cebu. (March 4, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Cebuanos ‘don’t need Lozada visit to know truth’