The acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is not over in Iloilo City yet with the addition of 35 cases over the weekend increasing the total cases to 522, while Iloilo province has already 36 cases from its previous 13 as of Sept. 11.
“It’s not going down yet. We thought it’s going down, unfortunately, it is not over yet,” said City Health Office (CHO) acting officer Dr. Annabelle Tang referring to the status of cases in the city in a press conference on Monday.
AGE has spread to 105 of the city’s 180 barangays, she said.
Cholera cases remain at 12.
“We are continuously doing intensive health information. At the same time, DOH (Department of Health) is also with us, gave us medicines,” she added.
The city government has been in close coordination with the Metro Pacific Iloilo Water for the provision of bulk water to areas affected. Some 61 static tanks have been put in place to cater to water delivery.
Of the 14,933 wells that were inspected, 1,534 have been chlorinated.
A total of 358 water refilling stations were inspected and 99 were found to be non-compliant; 38 have already been shut down by the CHO and the Business Permits and Licensing Office, while 34 voluntarily ceased operations.
Further, the Office of Civil Defense also sent 10,000 liters of water that were distributed to various schools.
The acting health officer said they will also be purchasing vaccines that will be administered, particularly in areas where there are clustering of cases.
Iloilo Provincial Health Office (IPHO) head Dr. Maria Socorro Quiñon, in a separate media interview, said of the province’s 36 cases, 10 came from the municipality of Tigbauan; Oton and Sta.Barbara recorded nine cases each; Pavia has three while the towns of Anilao, Barotac Nuevo, Dingle, Pototan and San Dionisio have one case each.
She said that 20 of the cases are admitted and recovering, 10 are at home also recovering, and six have recovered
“Most of the cases belong to the age group 1 to 10 years old with 13; 11 to 20 with eight; 31 to 40 years old with six; less than one year old, three; and 41 and above, three cases,” she said.
Quiñon added that the IPHO has been in close coordination with the municipal health offices of the affected areas.
Since January, she said they have been augmenting the capability of local government units to conduct testing of deep wells by providing water testing kits and chlorine granules.
In June and July, trainings were conducted for rural sanitation inspectors on food handling and water and food borne diseases.
It has also made sure that water refilling stations operating in the province comply with their updated monthly water testing as part of the zero open defecation program.
Quiñon also encouraged the public to purchase their food and water from safe sources and observe hygienic practices such as frequent handwashing and use of face masks.
She added the three cholera cases in the province were all attributed to the water sources in Iloilo City.
Source: Philippines News Agency
