Woman dies of cholera in Negros Occidental, village outbreak declared

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines — An 88-year-old woman from Barangay Guinhalaran in Silay City who died on September 22 was positive for cholera, health officials of the province said on Tuesday, September 27.

Silay Mayor Joedith Gallego declared an outbreak in the village on the recommendation of Provincial Health Officer Ernell Tumimbang.

The elderly woman, who lived alone, passed away at the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay.

The provincial health office said the initial recorded cause of death was not cholera, but the confirmatory test found her positive.

This is the second confirmed cholera case reported in Negros Occidental within the month.

The City Health Office (CHO) of Bacolod, the province’s independently-administered capital, announced on September 19 the death of a 37-year-old female with cholera at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital.

The woman died on September 16, five days after she was admitted for severe dehydration.

Water supply

The Silay mayor said the old woman was the city’s first case of cholera after so many years.

The city has already taken a water sample from Barangay Guinhilaran and sent this for laboratory tests in Manila.

“We concentrated our effort where there are positive cases, that’s why we went there – to make recommendations on what they should do…we recommended to declare an outbreak,” Tumimbang said.

The PHO recommendation also includes checking water sources, implementing chlorination of water sources in the area, as well as boiling drinking water, and activating the Local Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Committee.

The Silay CHO has started inspecting is the locality’s water sources including refilling stations, the mayor said.

The Department of Health (DOH) Western Visayas’ surveillance report, which followed a rash of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) and cholera cases in Iloilo City, said most cases of AGE could be traced back to contaminated shallow wells.

As of September 23, viral gastroenteritis and other waterborne diseases had infected more than 618 residents in 122 of 180 barangays in less than a month. Iloilo City also reported eight cholera cases within the same period.