DOH insists no cholera outbreak in N. Cotabato, advises residents to boil water before drinking

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MANILA — The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday said that it has not yet declared an outbreak of cholera in Alamada, North Cotabato despite the numerous cases in the area.

In a press conference, DOH spokesperson Dr. Lyndon Lee-Suy said that although cholera has been reported as an outbreak in various media, it does not yet warrant a declaration of an outbreak.

So far, the DOH confirmed eight individuals who died from cholera. Of these were three adults and five children — a four-month old, and four, five, six and eight years of age.

Five barangays in the municipality of Alamada were affected including Barangays Dado, Lower Dado, Pigkawaran, Rangayen and Barangiran. Most of the cases came from Barangay Dado.

“From our end we have not declared an outbreak or epidemic in these areas,” Dr. Lee-Suy said. “Although there is an increasing number of cases but then we could not qualify it as a cholera outbreak.”

Dr. Lee-Suy said that at present, the DOH could not classify all affected individuals as having cholera but so far based their report on about 1,083 patients complaining of acute watery diarrhea.

He noted that not all patients with diarrhea were admitted in hospitals, some were sent home and were treated on out-patient department (OPD) basis.

“Not all cases were diagnosed as cholera, but there were some cases that were confirmed (as) cholera,” Dr. Lee-Suy said, without mentioning specific numbers as of posting time.

The DOH spokesperson also said that aside from diarrhea and cholera, other diagnosis identified was amoebiasis.

“Actually there were more cases of amoeabiasis than cholera but why are we working at cholera? The outcome will be more severe with cholera,” Dr. Lee-Suy explained.

“We are working on cholera because it will cover your amoebiasis also if you get to handle the cases and deal with them as cholera,” he added.

The DOH has already sent a number of health workers from San Lazaro Hospital since last week to assist the community as well in the diagnosis and management of these acute watery diarrhea cases.

Lee-Suy said that the assigned health workers are also making sure that awareness is made and expressed hope that there will be a decline in the number of cases in the next few days.

Aside from sending people to assist in management of cases, the DOH has also sent experts on environmental sanitation.

“From what we’ve gathered, people still practice open defecation which created some problem with the water available in the area,” Dr. Lee-Suy said.

“If we are going to look at transmission of cholera, it is through fecal oral route and mostly from (contaminated) water,” he added.

Fecal oral route is when a virus enters the body from fecal matter taken into the mouth through contaminated food or fingers.

The DOH is also providing residents with jerrycans and advised them to boil water before drinking to ensure it is free from contamination.