The Municipal Health Office in Talaingod Davao del Norte confirmed 10 death cases, six of them children, suspected to have been caused by the cholera outbreak since September 2022.
Earlier, the Municipality of Talaingod declared a state of emergency on September 28, 2022 due to diarrhea, secondary to a cholera outbreak affecting their residents.
“Pag-abot man gud sa mga pasyente sa amoa, grabe ka sunken eyeballs, dehydrated gyud kaayo, ang skin turgor lisod na mabalik (When the patients came to us, they really have symptoms of cholera, like sunken eyeballs, they are also very dehydrated, and their skin turgor was in a bad condition),” Municipal Health Officer Dr. Jeoffrey Mambucon said in an interview with SunStar Davao.
He said since September 6, 2022, they have already recorded 280 cases, 35 were admitted to hospitals but have already been discharged.
“As of now, wala na ta’y admitted didto but naa tay under observation nga gina-treat namo (As of now, we don’t have any admission but there are two under observation),” Mambucon said. He added that these two patients are under home observation.
He said six of the reported 10 suspected cholera cases are children ages 2 to 6 years old while four deaths were adults ages 30 to 47 years old.
Mambucon clarified that they were not able to test the 10 patients who died but since one of their patients tested positive for cholera, they have declared the deaths as “suspected cholera” cases.
“Karun tanan suspected na gyud namo nga cholera kay naa man gud mi bata nga nag-positive pag-test of cholera (We suspected it as a cholera case since we have one positive case),” Mambucon said. The patient who tested for cholera was a 16-year-old male but has survived.
He said that it is not easy to test cases of cholera since the testing center is far from Talaingod.
“Ang pag-test man gud sa cholera dili sayon, naglisod gyud mi og test ani, kinahalanglan pa namo ipadala sa region sa Davao po, within the day kinahanglan dayon madala didto ang specimen (It is not easy to test the cholera specimen, we need to send the specimen to Davao City within the day it was collected),” Mambucon said.
As of now, Mambucon said the outbreak is already “partially controlled”.
“Padayon gihapon ang pagsaka namo sa bukid uban ang among team, labi na ang information, education campaign (IEC) (We have ongoing intervention like visiting the far flung areas and strengthening the IEC) ,” Mambucon said.
He said this is the first intervention they have implemented since the residents, who are mostly indigenous people (IPs), are not aware of treating their water, which has been the cause of the outbreak.
Mambucon said the Department of Health in Davao Region as well as the Local Government Unit of Talaingod has provided assistance in addressing the issue..
“Paspas kaayo ilahang pag-expidite sa mga jerry cans nga magamit sa bukid aron didto nila mabutang ang ilang giinit na tubig kay ginabawala namo ang mga resident nga moinom og tubig direct sa ilahang mga hosts, tapos paghatag og chlorine ug mga tambal (They have expedited the release of jerry cans, which can be used to store sterilized water, since we did not allow the residents to drink directly from their water source, also they gave us chlorine for the water treatment and medicines),” Mambucon said.
Mambucon reminded the residents to continue cleaning their surroundings and be vigilant if someone is experiencing diarrhea. They have been told to report and bring the patient to their barangay health centers.
“Kung naay magkalibanga, sa usa ka adlaw katulo na nagkalibang, report dayon sa center, dool dayon sa center. dili mahadlok kay naay doctor dire, naay nurses (If you know someone experiencing diarrhea and defecated three times in a day, please report it to the center, go to your nearest center. Don’t be afraid, we have a doctor on duty and nurses),” Mambucon said. KSD