BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Provincial Health Office (PHO) of Negros Occidental logged its first cholera death this year.
The fatality was a 74-year-old male resident of Barangay Patag, Silay City, according to Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, PHO head, yesterday morning.
This cholera-related death, also a first in Silay City for this year, died on Jan. 13 and test result confirmed he was positive for cholera.
This case raised the province’s cholera casualties to four since last year – two from Silay City and one each from the towns of E.B. Magalona and Murcia.
The PHO took water samples from the area where the latest fatality resided and would send these to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine for analysis.
Tumimbang said the latest cholera death may have already been severely dehydrated when he sought treatment at the hospital.
Cholera is an acute diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with Vibrio cholerae bacteria.
People can get sick if they drink water contaminated with cholera-causing bacteria or through poorly prepared food.
Symptoms of cholera include watery diarrhea, vomiting, thirst, leg cramps, and restlessness or irritability./PN
