200 suspected typhoid patients swamp Laguna health facilities

MANILA, Philippines - For fears that they may have been infected by typhoid, more than 200 people have sought medical attention in Laguna province. A stunning number, considering that this figure was recorded only in the past two days. Dr. Dennis Labro, spokesman of the Calamba City Health Office, told GMANews.TV in an interview that 96 people who have displayed symptoms of the disease were admitted in six different hospitals in the city since Thursday. While 108 others, who chose not to admit themselves in hospitals, opted to go to community health centers from Thursday until Friday. Labro explained that in health centers, patients are merely subjected to a screening test while those admitted in hospitals undergo a blood culture examination, which specifically detects the presence of salmonella typhi that causes typhoid fever. The additional cases bring the total number of hospital-based typhoid cases to 532 and the community-based cases to more than 1,000. At the JP Rizal Hospital, the lone government-run hospital in the city, some 39 people had been admitted on Friday alone, according to QTV's Balitanghali. Currently, 161 patients who have all displayed symptoms of typhoid are admitted in the 50-bed public hospital. The continuous inflow of patients have even prompted hospital officials to set up makeshift tents in order to accommodate the huge number of admissions. Labro said that hospital officials from the Pamana Medical Center has already extended their help to some patients at the JP Rizal Hospital and offered to have some 80 patients transferred to a nearby school. Negative so far The report also said that health official had already taken 13 water samples from various water sources, which would be subjected to testing. Labro told GMANews.TV that the water sampling, which started last March 4, would go on until March 9 and results for which are expected to be out by next week. He, however, revealed that initial results of the water sampled tested so far yielded negative for salmonella typhi. "We get samples through a house-to-house approach and there are some that come from strategic points and water-refilling stations, even sa mga bukal (springs)," Labro said. Medical mission A medical mission geared toward providing residents with free check-up and medicines like hyposol is currently being carried out by the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) together with the city health office, the television report added. PNRC chairman and former Sen. Richard Gordon personally checked with the victims from Barangay Sucol, where more than 900 people had already been hit by the virus. A separate radio report quoted local village officials in Sucol as even noting a curious trend there where the victims being rushed to hospitals were mostly pregnant women. The organization is also holding a series of forums where health experts and government officials speak and provide pointers to locals for the prevention of the deadly disease. Gordon has vowed to send in more tents and beds for the ailing patients. Even before an outbreak and a state of calamity were declared last March 4, the local government of Calamba has released P100,000 worth of medicines for the victims. The sudden outbreak has prompted the United Kingdom embassy in the Philippines to issue a warning among its nationals to take proper precationary measures before consuming water. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV