‘Amoebiasis, not cassava poisoning’

The Department of Health (DOH) ruled out cassava poisoning as the cause of the hospitalization of a Muslim couple in Cotabato City over the weekend.

Epidemiologist Dr. Troy Gepte said the DOH’s Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit found Nasrudin Salem and his wife, Fatima, to be suffering from diarrhea secondary to amoebiasis.

"We coordinated with our people in the field. They found out that the patients ate contaminated cassava. They were actually suffering from amoebiasis," he said.

The couple reportedly experienced vomiting and abdominal pain after eating boiled cassava.

The rootcrop was immediately blamed because the incident happened in the wake of a cassava scare in Mabini town in Bohol.

A total of 27 students of the San Jose Elementary School in Mabini died while 77 others were hospitalized after eating maruya, a cassava delicacy, contaminated with the "carbamate" pesticide.

Gepte said the public should observe personal hygiene and sanitation in preparing and cooking food to prevent amoebiasis.