Acute gastro-enteritis kills 5 in Pangasinan

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — Acute gastro-enteritis has spread to San Carlos City and eight municipalities, afflicting 859 people, killing at least five of them, health authorities said yesterday.

In a report, Dr. Alfredo Sy, officer-in-charge of the provincial health office, said that from May 1 to June 23, there were 336 cases with one death in Malasiqui town, 315 in San Carlos City, 88 in Calasiao, 46 in Basista, 13 with three deaths in Mangaldan, 36 cases with one death in Bayambang, 19 in Urbiztondo, one in San Fabian, and five in Lingayen.

A week earlier, there were only 300 cases reported with two deaths.

Those who died were identified as Christopher Jimenez, 25, of Poblacion, Malasiqui; Genaro Velasquez, 25, of Barangay Amansabina, Mangaldan; Erwin Urbano, 5, of Barangay Anolid, Mangaldan; John Francis Quinto, 4, of Barangay Palua, Mangaldan; and Mia Ynez, 4, of Barangay San Gabriel, Bayambang.

Sy said he met with the barangay officials of Malasiqui last Tuesday and probed the water system in the town.

He said they have submitted water samples for bacteriological tests to the Regional Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).

Sy said he also had a meeting with health personnel in San Carlos City and briefed them on how to conduct surveillance of acute gastro-enteritis cases.

He said they have distributed hundreds of packs of Oresol, bottles of dextrose, chlorine and Aquatabs tables and have stepped up their education campaign and surveillance of cases.

Gastro-enteritis admissions at the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital in San Carlos City continue to increase, Sy said. Over last weekend alone, 94 new cases were admitted at the hospital.

The barangays with the most number of cases are Palospos, Quezon Boulevard, Bugawan, Isla, Coliling and Baldog.

Six out of the nine rectal swabs sent to the RITM were positive for vibrio cholerae ogawa el tor. Six of the 21 water samples tested were found with E. coli, which means that the drinking water was contaminated by fecal materials. — Eva Visperas