BACOLOD City – The City Health Office (CHO) recorded the city’s second death due to suspected leptospirosis this year.
The 47-year-old male from Barangay Banago, who was fetching water for his neighbors, died on April 20.
Dr. Grace Tan, chief of the CHO’s Environmental Sanitation Division, said the man was admitted to hospital on April 18 due to upward rolling of eyeballs. He had seizures.
Four days prior to his confinement, he suffered body malaise but no medical consultation was done.
He also experienced jaundice and fever a day before hospital admission, Tan said.
The CHO confirmed the first leptospirosis fatality on January 25. The 52-year-old drainage cleaner was a resident of Barangay Villamonte.
From January 1 to April 26 this year, the CHO also recorded six leptospirosis cases: two in Barangay Banago, and one each in barangays 1, Estefania, and Mansilingan, and Villamonte. This is 25 percent lower than the eight cases listed in the same period last year.
Tan said the most common causes of leptospirosis are splashing contaminated water/urine into eyes, swallowing contaminated water/flood, and exposing open wounds to contaminated water/soil.
She added that delayed health-seeking behavior and denial of leptospirosis infection are the main causes of death.
The CHO encouraged anew those with a history or contact with water or ground possibly contaminated with leptospira in rat or animal urine to go to their nearest health center or private medical doctors for prophylaxis as soon as possible./PN
