DOH: Contaminated water behind typhoid outbreak

The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed that contaminated water due to “low chlorine level” caused the outbreak of typhoid fever in Calamba, Laguna.

At a press conference in Calamba City the other day, Health Secretary Francisco Duque reported the results of the health department’s microbiological testing indicating the presence of coliform bacteria in some water samples collected from water sources in the affected communities.

Duque said the presence of coliform bacteria means that the chlorine level in the water supplied by the Calamba Water District was insufficient to fully disinfect the water from disease-causing organisms.

Dr. Eric Tayag, chief of the DOH’s National Epidemiology Center, said the latest findings showed that the typhoid outbreak that affected 11 barangays in Calamba was mainly due to a common contaminated water source.

Last week, the DOH started collecting water samples from the affected barangays to determine if the drinking water carried salmonella typhi, a bacteria that causes typhoid fever.

But Tayag said the local water district rejected the findings, prompting a meeting among officials of the DOH, the city government and the Calamba Water District.

After the meeting, Tayag said government health experts were able to convince the local water district and the city government of the need to resolve the outbreak.

“We agreed to collect new water samples but regardless of the results, there is really a need to disinfect the water adequately or to an acceptable chlorine level at any point,” Tayag told The STAR.

As of Monday, Tayag said the DOH had recorded a total of 721 typhoid fever cases, including one death, in Calamba.

He said a 14-year-old girl died of typhoid fever, a bacterial infection of the intestinal tract, last Saturday.

Tayag said Calamba is still recording 10 new cases of typhoid fever a day.

“The cases of typhoid appear to be getting fewer but we are still checking the hospitals, and until this time the outbreak is still ongoing and yet to be contained,” Tayag said.