More than 900 people have been stricken with typhoid in Manila

[Snowy Owl]

500 hospitalized in Philippine typhoid fever outbreak

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/03/content_7708246.htm

MANILA, March 3 (Xinhua) -- More than 500 villagers in a northern Philippine province have been admitted in hospitals for typhoid fever over the past two weeks, a senior Red Cross official said Monday. The 500 sickened residents from 18 villag<!--ADV_CONTENT-->es of Calamba city of Laguna province are being treated in nine local hospitals, Rutelly Cabutin, the administrator of Laguna chapter of Philippine National Red Cross told Xinhua in a telephone interview.
Nearly 5,000 residents are seeking medical assistance from the government, said Rutelly, adding that however she was unable to tell how many of these people are suffering from typhoid fever.
Rutelly said the disease started to spread around Feb. 16 and peaked at the end of the month as the number of admitted patients doubled in the past week.
She said the Red Cross has not found the cause of the outbreak and is probing every angle to determine the cause. Rutelly said Calamba Water District had tested sample water following the incident but the test results turned out to be fine.
Local television network GMA News said that local medical resources were strained by the outburst of typhoid fever cases.
It quoted sources with JP Rizal Memorial Medical Center saying that at least 157 typhoid patients were crammed in the hospital that has a maximum accommodation for only 50.
"Most of the patients were on the floor due to the hospital's insufficient number of beds," the report said, adding that local medicines and medical supplies are also almost running out.
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</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="hei12" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="90%"> <tbody><tr> <td align="right" height="25"> Editor: Mo Hong'e</td></tr></tbody></table>​

 

[Snowy Owl]

Re: 500 hospitalized in Philippine typhoid fever outbreak

Re: 500 hospitalized in Philippine typhoid fever outbreak

Over 900 stricken with typhoid in Philippine city
Posted: 04 March 2008 0048 hrs
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The local district water authority is testing samples to try and determine the source of the typhoid outbreak.</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD class=update> </TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

MANILA : More than 900 people have been stricken with typhoid in a city just south of the Philippine capital Manila, a Red Cross official said on Monday.

The number could rise further as officials in Calamba city in Laguna province continue to track down the source of the disease, provincial Red Cross administrator Rutelly Cabutin told AFP.

"As of 5:00 pm today (0900 GMT), we have confirmed 903 cases. This includes those still in the hospital and those discharged," Cabutin said.

"It is quite alarming because the disease was not confined to one village, but is spread out in 18 villages. There could still be other undiagnosed cases," she said. "If the source can be immediately detected it can be stopped, but if it remains unknown, the number could increase."

The outbreak started last month but the cases have quickly piled up over the past two weeks, she said, adding that some 5,000 residents in 18 villages have sought medical help from the local government.

Health department officials in Manila were not immediately available to comment, but Cabutin said the local district water authority was testing samples.

She said only the health department in Manila can officially declare an outbreak, but local news reports have said hospitals in the area were having a hard time coping and that medical supplies were running out. -

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/332643/1/.html

 

[Shiloh]

Philippine Typhoid Outbreak

Philippine Typhoid Outbreak

Source: http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news5_mar4_2008
Typhoid epidemic hits 18 villages in Calamba

HEALTH officials yesterday declared an outbreak of typhoid fever in at least 18 villages in Calamba, Laguna, with over 1,000 residents stricken with the deadly disease.

Eric Tayag, head of the National Epidemiology Center, said the health department saw a sudden increase in the number of victims in the middle of February, with the most number of cases in Lecheria village.

?For every 100 residents, two were stricken with typhoid fever there,? Tayag said.

Other villages hit hard were Singko, Halang, Bucal, Pansol and La Mesa.

Tayag said the Health Department had sent a team to affected villages to see if the antibiotics being administered were effective.

The Calamba Health Office reported that at least 1,262 Calamba residents had been stricken since January, with a sudden increase after Feb. 14.

Typhoid fever, caused by the Salmonella typhi bacteria, is usually spread through the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person. When untreated, typhoid fever persists for three weeks to a month. Death occurs in between 10 percent and 30 percent of untreated cases.

Tayag urged the Calamba city government to distribute chlorinated water and reminded residents to boil their water for two to three minutes to kill the bacteria.

The typhoid outbreak was putting a strain on at least one hospital.

Chari Juangco of JP Rizal Memorial Center in Calamba told GMA-7 television that patients were forced to lie on the floor because there were not enough beds.

Lerma Pascual, Red Cross branch chairman, reported Sunday night a growing number of typhoid patients. They complained of severe headaches, high fever and diarrhea.

The Red Cross noted a shortage of medicine and intravenous fluid.

Health officials are investigating the source of the contamination. Macon Ramos Araneta and Rene M. Alviar

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Philippine Typhoid Outbreak

Re: Philippine Typhoid Outbreak

Typhoid downs more than 1,200 in Calamba, says Duque

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 03:43pm (Mla time) 03/05/2008
CALAMBA, Philippines -- The Philippine government rushed medical aid to a city south of Manila on Wednesday where an outbreak of typhoid has seen more than 1,200 people admitted to hospital, officials said.

"This is an outbreak and every outbreak is alarming," Health Secretary Francisco Duque told reporters.
He said the government had established a coordinating centre in Calamba -- 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Manila -- and was sending medical teams and aid to help local workers who were struggling to cope with the outbreak.

At the overcrowded JP Rizal Medical District Hospital in the city, sick children in soiled nappies and on intravenous drips spilled into hallways from overcrowded wards, many in makeshift cots.

The first person showing symptoms of typhoid was taken to hospital on February 21 but more than 200 patients have been admitted since Monday.

Maxima Balanes, 35, lay beside her twin toddlers Genely and Ashley on the floor of the hospital. All were hooked to IV drips and too weak to move.
"I think we got it from the water we drank," she said, adding that one of her older children was also sick but had been discharged.
Nearby, another young patient, seven-year-old Lika Rose Sadicon, held tightly to her plastic doll while propped on a small plastic chair, her eyes welling with tears.

Duque said the latest field bulleting showed that 1,262 people had been rushed to hospitals, with various typhoid-like symptoms.
Of the total, 27 cases were confirmed, while blood culture tests were being carried out on the others.

City officials in Calamba have so far not traced the source of the bacteria, Duque said.
Most residents suspect contaminated drinking water as the source, but tests carried out by city officials have "yielded negative results," Duque said.

"It is very important now for the short term for everybody in Calamba to boil their water," he said, adding that medical staff had also distributed chlorine tablets to mix with drinking water.

He said at least five of those struck down had shown complications and were beginning to show symptoms of the disease, which include severe weakness, lethargy and perforation of the intestines.

Local Red Cross administrator Rutelly Cabutin appealed for more help and said focus should now be given to help prevent a further spread of the disease.

"It hasn't stopped yet. People keep being admitted to hospitals," she said.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view_article.php?article_id=122940

 

[Treyfish]

Re: More than 900 people have been stricken with typhoid in Manila

Explosion in southern Manila typhoid epidemic declared a state of disaster authorities
At 16:03 on March 6, 2008 Source: China News Network

​

China news agency, Hong Kong, March 6-Manila: Philippine capital of Manila Kalanba south of the city before a typhoid epidemic, more than 1,400 people have been infected so far. Declared disaster areas into the state, hoping to control the epidemic.
According to "Lianhe Zaobao" on the 6th, the Duke of Health of the Philippines said that the authorities have 60 kilometers south of Manila, provincial Kalanba Lake City establishment of the Coordination Centre to send medical teams for the local support staff. Duke said that since the outbreak of the epidemic on February 16, 1477 with symptoms of typhoid fever patients, 436 had been in the city's six hospitals for treatment, and the remaining patients in the medical community Center for treatment.

Kalanba Labuluo spokesman for the Department of Health said that only 37 patients had blood test confirmed typhoid fever, typhoid This is because the high cost of testing, but fortunately is "so far there had been no fatalities." <table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

The initial suspect, may be contaminated drinking water would lead to the rapid spread of the epidemic; Government of the Philippines has announced three-affected areas disaster areas, in order to use funds to the local emergency rescue, hoping to effectively control the epidemic. :tiphat: http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?h...nanews.cn/gj/yt/news/2008/03-06/1184273.shtml

 

[Malcolm]

Philippines: severe typhoid outbreak worsens

Philippines: severe typhoid outbreak worsens

No confirmations or cause found as of yet


http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view_article.php?article_id=123793


Typhoid outbreak cause still a puzzle


Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:01am (Mla time) 03/10/2008

CALAMBA CITY, Philippines?As cases of typhoid fever continue to escalate and more patients are brought to the already crowded government hospitals here, government and health officials are still uncertain of the cause of the outbreak.

On Friday, 74 more patients were admitted to six hospitals and 210 more were listed as community cases.

The total number of persons with typhoid fever in the community was 1,436 and 664 patients were confined, Dr. Dennis Labro, spokesperson of the city health office, told the Inquirer.

Labro said the CHO, with the help of provincial sanitary inspectors, was conducting an investigation and water sampling.

He said the test could take some time because CHO staff members were going house-to-house in every barangay, including those in the unaffected areas.

The team also investigated the possibility of leaks in the water facilities of the Calamba Water District (CWD). The CDW
earlier denied allegations that the water it supplied to the villages was contaminated.

Water tests

Engineer Alberto M. Cervancia, CDW general manager, said the agency had met the Department of Health?s bacteriology standards for drinking water.

The CDW had also sought the assistance of Aqua Laboratory Center, an accredited agency of DOH for water testing, he said.

Aqua Lab conducted physiochemical test on Feb. 27 and reported that the water sample from the CWD passed the DOH standards and was negative for Salmonella typhi, the bacteria causing typhoid fever.

?There could be other causes aside from water,? Cervancia said.

Even the water test conducted by the CHO yielded negative results.

Leonor Elago, 25, of Barangay Sampiruhan, told the Inquirer that she was sure her daughter got the disease in school, the Sampiruhan Elementary School, because two of her younger children who are not yet attending classes there and were drinking water from their own pump, had not gotten ill.

Elago was damping with soaked towel the arms and legs of her 7-year-old daughter Leslie Ann, who had been stricken with typhoid for almost one week now.

Temporary shelter

Leslie Ann was one of the children housed in the temporary shelter built by the hospital.

Elago said she had hardly any options but to stay in the crowded public hospital.

Elago, whose husband is a tricycle driver, said it was cold in the tent at night and her daughter was already getting slight
coughs.

Labro clarified that typhoid cases might not really be increasing because some of the patients might have just sought hospitalization recently but had been enduring the disease for days.

?There were also days with lower hospital admission but last Wednesday was one of the peak days,? he said, adding: ?This is because of the long incubation period of the disease.?

From 155 people, the J. P. Rizal Memorial District Hospital was accommodating 170 patients as of Thursday.

Makeshift hospital

Dr. Gonzalo Lavarias Jr., hospital chief, said he would be setting up another tent to shelter the other patients as the hallways were becoming more congested.

An open makeshift tent near the hospital?s chapel, which was built on Sunday, was housing 58 patients.

?The city government is both alarmed and concerned about what is happening. In declaring state of calamity, it would be easy to disburse calamity funds for medical supplies,? Labro said.

He said city residents were also alarmed and facing difficulties in terms of the water source.

?Some residents are already thinking of moving out of Calamba temporarily until the outbreak subsides,? he said. Ni?a Catherine Calleja, Inquirer Southern Luzon


Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

[Malcolm]

Re: More than 900 people have been stricken with typhoid in Manila

The typhoid outbreak in Calamba already claimed the life of a 14-year-old girl.

Calamba is about 30 miles south of Manila on northernmost Luzon island.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view_article.php?article_id=123919

SAYS DOH
Contaminated water system to blame for typhoid outbreak

By Ni?a Catherine Calleja, Beverly T. Natividad
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 08:43pm (Mla time) 03/10/2008

CALAMBA CITY, Philippines -- The Department of Health said on Monday contaminated water coming from the central distribution system of this city caused the typhoid outbreak that killed a resident and downed about 1,700 persons in recent weeks.

Dr. Eric Tayag, director of the National Epidemiology Center (NEC), said they issued a report to the city mayor's office and were working with the Calamba Water District for another test as part of the monitoring of water quality standards.

"The outbreak is caused by contaminated water as evidenced by the results of the microbiological tests and the residual chlorine determination," the DoH report said.

?The water contamination was the cause of the outbreak,? he said.

Based on the results of the bacteriological water test conducted by the DoH, the percentage of water samples that tested positive for coliform fluctuated from 17 to 42 percent, and the highest percentage was noted on March 4.

Tayag said the water samples tested were taken from the Bukal Pumping Station of the Calamba Water District.

Test results showed that the bacteriological content was sufficient to cause the outbreak.

Tayag said the DoH findings were definitive, but still, officials of the Calamba water district requested another water quality testing which they could join.

He said the water district officials had reservations about the findings, arguing that they were not included in the processing of the samples.

Tayag said the DoH agreed to the new test, adding that findings of the joint monitoring would be released in two to three days.

The DoH, nevertheless, was still conducting more tests to determine other risk factors that aggravated the typhoid outbreak.

The typhoid outbreak in Calamba already claimed the life of a 14-year-old girl, who, Tayag said, died of hemorrhage over the weekend. The hemorrhage was a complication resulting from the typhoid fever.

Tayag has called on Calamba residents to immediately go to the nearest hospital or health center in the area if they felt they had symptoms of the disease.

Typhoid fever, he said, usually led to complications upon reaching the second week. He said patients should not wait for two weeks before consulting health officers.

City Health Office records show that from February 14 to March 6, hospitals in Calamba have registered 590 cases of typhoid fever.

Community-based patients, on the other hand, numbered 1,226 in the same period. These are patients who have shown symptoms of typhoid fever and have gone to village health centers or were only treated at home.

Dr. Dennis Labro, medical officer IV of the City Health Office said that some of the patients were discharged after three weeks.

The outbreak started in some of the villages in Calamba on the last weekend of February. The local government placed Calamba City under a state of calamity on March 3.

The DoH declared an outbreak on March 4 when 18 villages were reported to be affected by the disease.

Tayag said that the disease was already showing signs of declining, with the City Health Office now recording fewer than 10 cases a day.

The DoH urged residents to boil drinking water.


Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.