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[av_heading heading=’ VILLAGE WELLS CONTAMINATED? | Passi typhoid cases alarm health execs’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Tuesday, May 9, 2017
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ILOILO City – A father and his daughter died of typhoid fever in Barangay Tubod, Passi City. Another family member with symptoms of the illness was hospitalized.
Barangay Tubod deep wells where villagers get their water could be contaminated, according to Provincial Health Office (PHO) chief Dr. Patricia Grace Trabado.
Two more village residents were suffering from typhoid fever and the PHO was informed of two other suspected cases.
The 47-year-old father died on May 5 while confined at the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC), four days after his 21-year-old daughter died on May 1.
The other family member still hospitalized was a four-year-old boy.
Trabado, however, clarified there was no typhoid outbreak in Barangay Tubod.
Typhoid fever is an acute illness caused by the Salmonella typhi bacteria. It can also be caused by Salmonella paratyphi, a related bacterium that usually causes a less severe illness. The bacteria are deposited in water or food by a human carrier and are then spread to other people in the area.
Symptoms include poor appetite, headaches, generalized aches and pains, prolonged fever, lethargy, sweating, dry cough, and diarrhea.
PHO sent a team to check Barangay Tubod on May 5. They inspected deep wells.
According to PHO sanitary inspector Maeden Quiñon, the wells were near households which mostly did not have septic tanks.
The wells’ surroundings were also swampy and where some residents bathed and did their laundry.
Sources of water must be at least 25 meters away from septic tanks, comfort rooms and other possible sources of contamination, said Trabado.
Typhoid fever is contracted by drinking or eating the bacteria in contaminated food or water. People with acute illness can contaminate the surrounding water supply through stool, which contains a high concentration of the bacteria.
Contamination of the water supply can, in turn, taint the food supply. The bacteria can survive for weeks in water or dried sewage.
The team that PHO sent to Barangay Tubod distributed chlorine for the residents to use in disinfecting their water sources.
Oral dehydration solutions were also given out to the villagers.
The team advised the residents to stop using their deep wells for the meantime.
“They were told to find another source of water for their household use,” said Trabado.
There’s a water refilling station in the village./PN
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