Health officer says alleged typhoid outbreak ‘history’

A Las Piñas City health official said yesterday the typhoid outbreak in BF Resort Village is "history" but at the same time warned the subdivision’s water distributor to "shutdown or rehabilitate" its water pipes, or else face legal action.

In a phone interview, Dr. Eliezer Natividad, head of the city health office technical division, said that the outbreak was over as of April 2.

"We didn’t get anymore reports (of people getting sick) since then. Most of the cases happened in March," Natividad said.

Residents of the Phase 2 North of BF Resort Village, Barangay Talon 2, have complained that the water provided by their distributor, BF Waterworks, was dirty and unsafe. Many residents, especially those from Evelyn Camus Street, have been stricken with typhoid, diarrhea, and urinary tract infection.

A resident of neighboring Yolanda Dominguez Street died of typhoid last month. Danny Cruz, an Evelyn Camus resident since 1976, earlier told The STAR that the outbreak remains "unabated."

Cruz’s 63-year-old wife, Lilia, is still confined at a Makati City hospital for typhoid and has developed complications. But Natividad insisted the outbreak is under control and that there was only a total of 55 cases reported to the city health office.

And contrary to the hundreds of cases in Evelyn Camus Street as reported in the papers, there were only 27," he said.

Natividad said that since there had been no confirmatory test conducted, it could not be concluded that what struck the residents was indeed typhoid.

"It was only our clinical or presumptive diagnosis and of the other doctors, especially since the symptoms were that of typhoid. But to say that it really was typhoid, there should have been a confirmatory test done," Natividad said.

In the case of fatality, Sherwin Dula, Natividad said typhoid was listed as the cause of his death but that the young man also suffered from bronchial asthma.

Typhoid, the doctor said, aggravated Dula’s condition.

Natividad also acknowledged that BF Waterworks’ denial that its water is tainted remains a "problem" for the city health office.

"But we have given them an April 30 deadline to comply with our sanitary order to rehabilitate or shutdown their waterpipes. If they fail to do so, we would be referring the matter to our legal office," Natividad said.