Diarrhea outbreak now under control

CEBU, Philippines - The diarrhea outbreak in a manufacturing firm in Danao City, northern Cebu, is now under control, as declared by the Department of Health Central Visayas.

“By under control, we mean that the cases are downtrending. No additional surge of cases have been reported and treatment,” said regional epidemiologist Rennan Cimafranca.

Cimafranca added they conducted site investigation Thursday after 152 employees of Cebu Mitsumi Inc. suffered from diarrhea.

He said the outbreak could be attributed to ambulant food stalls right in front of the company, particularly “sago-gulaman” vendors.

The investigation also found vendors who do not have sanitation and government permits.

“We encouraged them to secure the necessary permits. Otherwise, they cannot continue selling food there,” Cimafranca said.

With this, regional director Jaime Bernadas urged the employees and nearby community to refrain from patronizing the ambulant vendors.

“Reminders to the vendors, kinahanglan aduna kamo’y kahibalo sa pag-prepare sa pagkaon nga inyong ibaligya kay basin makamugna mo ug sakit ug kaguol. Alang sa mga empleyado, ayaw kamo pataka ug palit sa mga walay permit labi na ang ambulant vendors kay kung masakit mo, wala na mo’y mabalik kay pirmi man sila mag-move,” Bernadas said.

Apart from this, authorities are also looking into the internal water system of the company although this does not have more weight than the ambulant food stalls outside the company premises.

“They have their own waterworks. They process the water which the employees can drink from the fountain. The water source is less than three kilometers from the sea so we are checking on this. Though they have passed prior testing on the water, we will still look into this in order to have a thorough investigation,” Cimafranca said.

The DOH is also taking into account the possibility that the cases could be cholera though they are not yet certain.

Cimafranca said there is no need to suspend the operations of the company as the number of affected employees is rather low compared to the total number working for the Japanese-owned company in Danao. Mitsumi has at least 18,000 employees.  — Jessa J. Agua/BRP (FREEMAN)