DAVAO CITY, PHILIPPINES — As of Friday, July 22, 2022, the Davao City Health Office (CHO) reported 218 incidents of diarrhea, including three fatalities.
Dr. Ashley Lopez, the director of CHO, stated in an interview on Friday with Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR 87.5) that out of the total cases, 19 had completely recovered, and 196 are still active.
A 32-year-old male patient who passed away on Thursday at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) from “acute renal failure” was the most recent victim of the diarrhea outbreak.
According to him, the patient was initially admitted on July 16 to the Saint Felix Hospital in Talomo District with acute gastroenteritis and mild dehydration.
On July 20, when his condition deteriorated, he was moved to the SPMC.
“After two days of admission in the private hospital, he suffered severe dehydration with metabolic disorders, and that’s why he was transferred to SPMC,” Dr. Lopez said.
“The condition of the patient is not improving. It was getting worse and there was an indication that he should be transferred to…SPMC because of electrolyte imbalance,” he added.
Like in previous cases, the current victim reportedly consumed a tapioca drink and ate “isaw” or grilled chicken entrails at a night market on Rasay Street in Toril on July 15 and experienced diarrhea a few hours later.
According to CHO, a 10-year-old child and a 67-year-old woman who was receiving treatment at Viacrus Medical Hospital and died from complications from diarrhea were among the first cases.
Their deaths were attributed to “incidental hemorrhagic strokes.”
The patients came from three areas in Talomo and 18 barangays in Toril District.
Alambre, Bangkas Heights, Baracatan, Bato, Binugao, Camansi, Catigan, Crossing Bayabas, Daliao, Daliaon Plantation, Eden, Lizada, Lubogan, Marapangi, Mulig, Sirawan, Toril Proper, and Tungkalan are among the Toril Districts that have been affected.
Bago Aplaya, Baliok, and Dumoy in the Talomo District are affected.
The youngest patient is six months old, while the oldest is 71.
At SPMCs intensive care unit, Lopez claimed there were two seriously ill patients.
“With the mitigating measures that we have been doing, we can see some improvements in our efforts so that we can finally overcome this crisis or outbreak,” he said.
As the findings of the water quality testing, food sample, and rectal swabbing are still waiting, Lopez reported that the city government has not yet determined the source of diarrhea but added that there is a significant possibility that the night market’s street food may have contributed to it.
“The source is very-common among them, presumably the street food – because right after the intake of food from that area, they manifested LBM, vomiting, and other symptoms related to acute gastroenteritis,” Lopez said.
Lopez also announced that a four-person team from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) traveled to Davao from Manila to thoroughly examine the outbreak.
As a result of the outbreak and the common cause pointing to the food stalls in Toril, the CHO has suspended the operations of said food stalls amid the continuous diarrhea cases.
The City Social Welfare and Development Office is helping the affected vendors with their necessities until the night market can resume operations. – WhatALife!/Brix
Also read: Two barangays in Davao monitored for chikungunya virus
Leave a Reply