DOH eyeing cholera outbreak in Agusan villages

The Department of Health (DOH) is eyeing an outbreak of cholera in tribal communities in Agusan del Sur that has afflicted 97 villagers, 12 of whom have died.

According to initial reports of the provincial information office, the victims were mostly members of the Banwaon tribe in Sitios Kamalangan, Tamiang and Guinsawan in Barangay Binicalan, San Luis town.

Dr. Eric Tayag, the DOH’s chief epidemiologist, said diarrheal cases started surfacing among the tribal folk last July but they peaked in October and this month.

Tayag said that while laboratory tests have not yet been made, the victims seem to be sick with cholera based on the symptoms.

"That place is very remote. From (the San Luis town proper) it can be reached in four days by foot and one and a half days by motorcycle. Even if stool samples are collected from the patients, they can no longer be sent to the laboratory for examination," he said.

The Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control and Prevention defines cholera as an acute, diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.

In severe cases, the symptoms are profused, watery diarrhea that leads to dehydration and shock, vomiting and leg cramps. Without treatment, death can occur within hours.

"We think that it is cholera also because of the huge number of deaths involved. Cholera can really be that fatal," Tayag said.

Reports of the municipal health and sanitary inspector’s office showed that the contamination of water sources in the affected villages is being eyed as the cause of the outbreak.

Agusan del Sur Gov. Adolf Edward Plaza has dispatched a team of health experts to treat the victims and inspect the affected places.

The doctors are providing the patients with rehydration solutions and antibiotics since they can no longer be brought to hospitals.

But Tayag said burial practices should also be looked into because they could also be a source of contamination.

"We have to know how they take care of the dead. If they bury the dead and do not wash their hands afterwards, they can acquire cholera and other illnesses as well," he said.