TACLOBAN CITY – Confirmed cases of cholera in this city rose to 33 as more people are being brought to hospitals and community clinics due to acute watery diarrhea.
A total of six people have already died due to severe dehydration including a seven-month infant and three elderlies from three villages.
The Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the Department of Health regional office (DOH-8) reported that out of 40 stool samples that have been tested through a cholera culture conducted at Eastern Visayas Medical Center, 33 of were positive of cholera while only seven were negative.
As of Friday, November 4, a total of 559 cases of acute watery diarrhea have already been reported in the city, more than half of them are from Barangay 106 where the first few cases came from. The patients’ ages ranging from less than a month infant to 109 years old are mostly female.
“The number of cases is already going down but the outbreak is not yet over,” says Tacloban City Health officer Dr. Danilo Ecarma.
Records from the Tacloban City Health Office show that as of Friday, 134 patients are still seeking treatment in different hospitals out of 220 that were brought for admission.
Ecarma said his office is conducting house to house visits in the community to educate the residents on how they can avoid getting infected, saying, “There is a need for a behavioral change. They have to maintain cleanliness and ensure that the water that they drink is safe and clean.” He said the city is also stepping up the campaign against open defecation, which could have caused the outbreak especially that the water source in the area comes from the surface water of a creek. By Elmer Recuerdo (EV Mail October 31-November 6, 2022 issue)
