WATER samples were taken from the house of an 88-year-old woman from Barangay Guinhalaran in Silay City, Negros Occidental, who died on Sunday, September 25, and later tested positive for cholera.

Silay City Mayor Joedith Gallego said the water samples will be sent to Manila today, September 28, for checking whether it has the E.coli, a coliform bacteria that causes cholera.

Gallego, however, clarified that the death certificate of the woman showed that she succumbed to a different illness and not cholera.

She died at the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City and was interred yesterday, September 27.

Gallego stressed that there is still a need to investigate the matter to make the other residents of the barangay aware that there is already an existing cholera case in the area.

With that, the mayor said, he has declared a "cholera outbreak" at Barangay Guinhalaran effective yesterday, September 27.

"We want the people to be aware that they need to take necessary precautions, especially on the water and the food that they intake," Gallego also said, adding that even with a single case, they can already declare an outbreak to prevent the spread of the disease.

The mayor noted that Provincial Health Officer Dr. Ernell Tumimbang and Silay City health authorities are already on top of the situation.

Earlier, Tumimbang warned that a person infected with cholera experiences loss of fluid rapidly sometimes starting two hours after the infection.

If it goes beyond without treatment through water replenishment, it could be fatal with high chances of mortality, he said.

The provincial health officer emphasized that cholera's symptoms do not include stomach ache but the infected person would be experiencing watery stool and vomiting.

So far, that in Silay City is already the second confirmed cholera case in Negros Occidental.

Several weeks ago, a 37-year-old female resident of Bacolod City was also admitted at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in the city.*