Health authorities probe diarrhea outbreak in NegOr town

DUMAGUETE CITY – Health authorities are now investigating reports of a number of children coming down with diarrhea, fever, and other symptoms in the municipality of Bacong in Negros Oriental.

Dr. Socrates Villamor, provincial chief of the Department of Health (DOH), in an interview Tuesday afternoon, said they still do not have complete details as Rural Health Unit (RHU) workers in Bacong are still going around the town to gather data and other information.

Villamor said according to the town’s RHU, it learned about the incidents only through social media posts but no one has so far made an official report to their office.

“At this time, we cannot make a conclusion yet on whether this is caused by a contaminated water source and how serious the cases are there,” he said in mixed English and Cebuano dialect.

The gravity of the situation is also still unclear and there are no numbers and other details yet, he said.

One social media post mentioned a three-year-old child admitted to a hospital here due to diarrhea apparently caused by “amoebiasis”.

Another netizen said in a post that the water in their house was “lubog” (murky) and hoped that authorities would take action on the matter.

“We will know once the RHU submits its report on whether there is a need to have water samples taken for testing, if, indeed, contaminated water is behind this,” Villamor said.