Thursday, August 07, 2008
Medicines rushed to cholera-hit Sultan Kudarat (8:04 p.m.)
MANILA - Health workers headed to a remote town in Mindanao Thursday to battle an outbreak of cholera that killed 20 people and sickened 147 others, an official said.
Most of the victims of the outbreak in several mountainous hamlets near Palimbang town in Sultan Kudarat province were children, Mayor Samrud Mamansual said.
He said the first deaths were reported Monday in the village of Milbuk, among members of the Manobo tribe who get their drinking water from a waterfall.
The head of the Health Department's epidemiology center, Dr. Eric Tayag, said a team of health workers was on its way to the area with badly needed medicines.
"Right now we're focused on preventing deaths," he told The Associated Press, adding he did not believe the outbreak would spread. "We don't expect this to get any worse."
He said 20 people had died and 147 were sickened. (AP) |
