NINETEEN people, 16 of them below five years old, died of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) as the diarrhea outbreak continues to shroud Zamboanga City since its declaration last month.
Latest report from the Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the City Health Office (CHO) showed the AGE death toll rose to 19 as of May 15.
Dr. Ivy Iturralde, CHO’s epidemiology and surveillance unit head, said that eight deaths have co-morbidities such as pneumonia, malnutrition, meningitis and myocardial infarction.
Majority died at the government-owned Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC).
Iturralde said there were 2,324 AGE cases admitted in 11 hospitals in the city from March 28 to May 14, with the increase in the admission noted on April 4.
More than half of the cases were from the pediatric group, particularly the under five years old, and more than half of the cases were males, according to Iturralde.
She said that the village of Sta. Catalina has the highest attack rate of AGE cases, followed by the villages of Zone III, Sta. Barbara and Calarian.
She said that Calarian also has the most number of admitted cases of AGE followed by Sta. Catalina and San Roque.
The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) of the Department of Health earlier said that rotavirus was the main cause in the surge of AGE cases recorded in the city.
Dr. Maria Agnes Mabolo, local health support division chief of the DOH regional office, said the main contaminant of the rotavirus was the drinking water.
Iturralde said 100 or 72 percent of the cases interviewed used water refilling stations as major source of drinking water, while 21 percent or 29 use water serviced by the Zamboanga City Water District.
Only 40 or 29 percent of the cases interviewed boiled water before drinking.
As this developed, the City Health Officer Dr. Rodelin Agbulos ordered to continuously intensify its AGE advocacy and other prevention and control measures.
Agbulos also ordered the sanitary inspectors to regularly conduct water testing in refilling stations and all concerned establishments.