DUMAGUETE CITY — The Provincial Health Office (PHO) of Negros Oriental has expressed its concern over the rising number of typhoid fever cases in the province.
According to health officer Dr. Liland Estacion, there were 87 cases of typhoid fever in the province from January until March.
Although there were no reported deaths from the disease, the number of cases this year was 38 percent higher than the cases recorded over the same period last year.
“But I am more alarmed because there is one barangay that has 10 cases of typhoid,” said Estacion.
PHO personnel have been sent to a sitio in Barangay Tanglad in northern Manjuyod town to conduct validation of the suspected typhoid fever cases there.
Water samples were also taken to further confirm the presence of the bacteria that could cause typhoid.
“We gave chemicals like chlorine to make sure they have potable drinking water,” Estacion said in Cebuano during a virtual press briefing Monday.
This, after health authorities discovered the residents there were drinking water from a nearby spring.
Residents were taught to make potable stock water, and were also given information materials.
The youngest typhoid fever case in the said village was aged 16.
Typhoid fever is usually acquired through contaminated food and water. Symptoms include fever, headache, loss of appetite, diarrhea and body malaise.
In the last quarter of 2022, typhoid cases also increased in Negros Oriental by more than 100 percent where 1 death was recorded.
Estacion's virtual press briefing on Monday was her first public appearance since she was shot in the March 4 armed attack in Pamplona, Negros Oriental that killed Governor Roel Degamo and 8 others.
She was among the 13 people hurt in the shooting.
"Despite the tragedy that struck our province, we have to move on and continue doing our functions and responsibilities," Estacion said in Cebuano.
—Reports from Annie Perez and Raffy Cabristante, ABS-CBN News
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