According to Councilor Rivo Nisce, chair of the Sangguniang Panlungsod’s committee on health, mostly affected by the outbreak of the water-borne disease are children in urban poor communities.
He said it was last Wednesday afternoon when the disease was first noticed after a group of about 10 families came to his home asking for medicines for dysentery.
The following day, more families came again asking for the same set of medicines, prompting Nisce to call the attention of the city health office to check on the cases of diarrhea.
He disclosed that "sporadic" cases of diarrheal infection, affecting mostly children below 10 years old, have been prevalent in squatter communities in Barangays Mabini, Poblacion, Sto. Cristo, San Nicolas, San Roque, San Rafael and San Vicente.
All these villages, located in the city proper, have been under two- to three-foot deep floodwaters since last Saturday when typhoon Reming pounded Luzon.
Nisce said floodwaters in these villages have not subsided since then due to clogged drainage systems, and that the situation got worse with the heavy downpour brought by typhoon Seniang.– Benjie Villa