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[av_heading heading=’‘Cholera outbreak in Bacolod public elementary school’ ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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BACOLOD City – What it previously described as a “food and waterborne-disease outbreak” at Handumanan Elementary School (HES) 1 was actually cholera, the City Health Office (CHO) clarified yesterday.
Nine children and an adult tested positive for the bacterium that causes cholera.
They were among the more than a hundred taken to various hospitals from Oct. 14 to 17 for suspected food poisoning after consuming food and beverage bought from the school canteen and ambulant vendors.
The mass hospitalization prompted the CHO to declare a “food and waterborne-disease outbreak” in Barangay Handumanan.
Councilor Em Ang, chairwoman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, announced on Oct. 19 that the outbreak had been “contained.”
The patients — including those with cholera — were from barangays Handumanan, and Felisa and Cabug, among other nearby villages, according to Dr. Grace Tan, chief of the CHO’s Environmental Sanitation Division.
Tan said the 10 cholera patients were already released from hospitals.
As of yesterday the CHO has not recorded further cases of cholera, she added.
A cholera patient experiences a tingling sensation on the extremities and suffers from hoarse voice, weakness and severe dehydration, Tan said.
Symptoms of the disease manifest within 24 to 48 hours after the ingestion of contaminated food or water, she said.
The CHO advised the locals to thoroughly wash their hands before eating to prevent food and water contamination.
Hand-washing should be done before and after eating, after using the toilets, after coughing, and after playing with pets, said Tan.
She said the public should also make sure the water they drink comes from clean sources and/or in clean containers.
When the food and waterborne-disease outbreak was declared in Handumanan, the CHO took samples from water sources around the school and the food and drinks the patients, who were mostly pupils, consumed prior to feeling ill.
Tan said yesterday they were still waiting for laboratory test results from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.
The CHO said the signs and symptoms showed the patients’ medical condition may have been caused by the intake of food and beverage contaminated by harmful bacteria, virus, parasites, or chemicals.
Among food items they consumed were juice, ice candy and fried chicken being sold at the school canteen and by ambulant vendors.
During the outbreak, the Department of Education – Division of Bacolod City suspended the classes in HES 1 from Oct. 14 to 18./PN
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