July 25 2022
Davao City Acting City Health Office Dr. Ashley Lopez, during the Madayaw Dabaw daily radio program over the Davao City Disaster Radio, said 74 out of the 261 recorded diarrhea cases related to the Toril outbreak have since recovered.
Lopez said that the remaining active cases are 183 but only 53 are under hospital admission as the 104 others are outpatient. Twenty-six of the remaining cases are still being verified to determine their link to the Toril outbreak.
Lopez said that the age range of the patients is from six months to 71 years old.
He also said that four deaths have also been recorded since the outbreak and the latest was that of a 23-year-old swabber under the City Health Office (CHO). The patient experienced diarrhea symptoms last July 15 and was admitted to an infirmary in Toril for three days. On the third day, he went home against medical advice and continued remedy at home. He was re-admitted on July 20 at St. John Hospital. After about 5-6 days, he died due to acute kidney failure secondary to severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance secondary to food poisoning.
Lopez said the number of cases – when compared to last week’s average of 40-50 cases per day – continues to decline.
“We are now in the second week and based on the growth curve nagsugod na ug plateau, sugod gahapon naga-average na ug seven (We are now in the second week and based on the growth curve, we are in a plateau. Starting yesterday (July 24, 2022) we are averaging seven cases),” he said, adding that the city government will not stop until such time there would be zero cases.
While awaiting the results of the laboratory tests for food and water, the CHO continues to probe areas that are possible sources of contamination.
The CHO collected water samples from a stream of water in Tungkalan, suspected to have been contaminated, and sent them to the Southern Philippines Medical Center.
“Naay gamay na body of water upon ocular by the sanitary inspector sa task group naay nag lutaw-lutaw nga patay nga insekto and baki, that will indicate that this is not clean water. (There is a possible water source that is contaminated. There is a small body of water there and upon ocular by the sanitary inspector of the Task Group there are floating dead insects and frogs that will indicate that this is not clean water),” Lopez said.
Lopez said that they also received reports that some people in the area are using deep wells. The team from CHO also conducted an information drive and urged residents to boil their water for drinking, and washing as the outbreak is still ongoing.
Meanwhile, the CHO has suspended the operation of two ice plants in Toril after the initial test result of the water being used for ice.
“We issued [an order for] suspension of operations pending investigation kay among nahibaw-an nga dili limpyo tung tubig nga gipanggamit. Ang source of water has not been cleared. (We issued [an order for] suspension of operations pending investigation because we learned that they are not using clean water. The source of water has not been cleared),” Lopez said, adding that they have the initial result but they will divulge it soon.
Lopez said that while the outbreak has not been fully contained yet, they continue to advise the public to boil the water they use for drinking and washing, especially since the contamination is highly linked to the seasonal overflow of water sources due to flooding. CIO
