DUMAGUETE CITY – The Department of Health (DOH) office in Negros Oriental said the recent spate of diarrhea cases, which downed almost 200 residents of Sibulan town and apparently caused by contaminated water, is now under control with incidences already on the decline.
Indira Requiron-Puspus, senior administrative assistant of the Office of the Mayor of Sibulan, said this on Monday, adding that a meeting with DOH officials and Dr. Liland Estacion of the Integrated Provincial Health Office is set with town officials on Tuesday for an update on the “upsurge” of diarrhea cases last week.
The DOH reported 169 diarrhea patients in Sibulan in just a few days last week, but did not declare an outbreak, saying there was only an “upsurge” in cases.
The cases have already dwindled, according to Puspus. “Kung sa sunog pa na, fire out na ta (if this was a fire incident, it’s been declared a fire out already),” she said.
Puspus said there continues to be sporadic cases of diarrhea to date but these are just normal occurrences, according to the DOH.
Following the surge of diarrhea cases, all water sources, including the Sibulan Water District (SIWAD), Jetmatic pumps, and water refilling stations, were subjected to water sampling.
According to Puspus, SIWAD was found to be positive of the E. coli bacteria through a colilert test that was ran on the water samples taken last week.
“Ni-positive ang SIWAD areas and so the suggestion of DOH was for massive chlorination,” she said.
After the chlorination, SIWAD water samples were tested again through a Multiple Tube Fermentation Technique and this time, the results came out negative, she added. (Mary Judaline Partlow/PNA)
