Bohol town outbreak update: Diarrhea victims count drops to 80 yesterday

The number of victims from the diarrhea outbreak in Loon, Bohol has dropped significantly, as of yesterday, but health officials have refused to declare the situation already under control.

Bohol provincial health officer Rey Moises Cabagnot said admissions in the Loon District Hospital had dropped from 117 the other day to only 80 yesterday but continual monitoring of the situation is still being done before issuing any favorable conclusion.

Water samples from the Loon Water System and from bottled water of the various refilling stations in the province have been taken for laboratory examination already, said Cabagnot.

Rennan Cimafranca, officer-in-charge of the Regional Epidemiological and Surveillance Unit-7, added that aside stool samples from the victims were also taken to the labs to determine the type of bacteria that caused the outbreak.

The outbreak had claimed the lives of 3-year-old Leah Lampara and 57-year-old Paz Marson due to acute gastroenteritis and severe dehydration.

Mayor Cesar Lopez of Loon the first diarrhea case was reported Thursday and, in the next three days, the number of victims rapidly increased that prompted the health official to declare an outbreak.

Officials of Loon, Bohol also declared their town under a state of calamity last Monday.

Lopez earlier said that 20 out of 67 barangays in Loon have been affected, and the most severely hit were barangays Basak, Cogon Norte, Cogon Sur, Napo, Badbad Oriental, Badbad Occidental and the eight barangays in Sandingan Island.

Lopez said there have been suspicion that the water sources might have been contaminated due to a close to a month-long rainy period. - Fred P. Languido