TWO children from Barangay Camoboan in Tabogon suffered diarrhea and vomiting after eating an imported canned tuna on Tuesday night.
The canned tuna reportedly came from the town of Tabogon and was meant for fishermen who were victims of typhoon Yolanda in October 2013.
Dr. Mario Joyag of the Provincial Health Office (PHO) said the children are now recuperating in Juan B. Dosado Memorial Hospital in Sogod and may be discharged today.
The PHO just received a report of the incident yesterday.
The hospital reported that Joyag said the 5-year-old girl and her one-year-and-five month brother ate the canned tuna for dinner, which was given by their neighbor.
After eating, the two had vomiting and diarrhea.
They were then brought to the hospital in Sogod after severely dehydration on Wednesday morning.
They were immediately given with intravenous fluids by the medical staff.
“So far, well-rehydrated na ang bata, pasabot napulihan na ang tubig nga nangawala sa mga bata (the children are well-rehydrated, meaning the fluids that was discharged from their bodies were replaced),” he told reporters.
Confirmation
Joyag said they cannot yet confirm that it was food poisoning for the father was not suffering the same illness after eating.
“It was just like a simple case of acute gastroenteritis or ato pang termino kalibanga ra gyud siya nga ordinaryo (in layman’s term, ordinary diarrhea),” he said.
If the reason was the expiry date, which was June 2015, Joyag said the neighbor who gave the canned tuna could not be blamed because it is still not beyond June.
Source
In a TV5 report, Maribeth Itang, the neighbor who gave the canned goods, said the tuna came from the municipality of Tabogon.
The canned goods were given by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources 7 for the fishermen affected by typhoon Yolanda and members of the Ahon project.
Itang said her family even ate the same, but did not get any sick.
In the same report, the father of the two children said they have not eaten other food aside from the tuna during their dinner.
Joyag said the source of food should be inspected to determine if the children were poisoned.
A stool examination was also done for both children.
Joyag said there are a lot of factors that caused gastroenteritis, one of them could be the water they drank was contaminated or the food preparation.
He said that if one is suffering diarrhea, water and Oresol, a solution made up of sugar, salt and water, should be given to the person immediately.