public health

What we know so far: Amoebiasis in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental

Inday Espina-Varona

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What we know so far: Amoebiasis in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental

PROBE. The Department of Health has sent a team to San Carlos City, Negros Occidental after Mayor Renato Gustillo declared a health emergency due to rising figures of reported amoebiasis cases.

The Department of Health wants to review the city's declaration of a state of health emergency, but admits 60% of 189 reported cases in February were positive for amoebiasis, compared to zero cases in 2022

The Department of Health central office on Tuesday, February 28 announced it was sending a team to investigate cases of amoebiasis in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.

Here’s what we know so far.

Reported cases

Mayor Renato Gustillo on Tuesday, February 28 told reporters that the San Carlos City Hospital had treated a total of 230 patients for suspected amoebiasis as of February 26.

Most patients are residents various barangays in the 2nd class component city, which is 136-kilometers north of Bacolod City, the province’s independent capital.

Seven patients are detainees in the San Carlos City Jail.

Gustilo said some patients have already been discharged, while others were sent home after consultation.

DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire on February 28 gave a lower figure of reported cases, 189, and said only 60% had been confirmed as amoebiasis – compared to zero cases in 2022.

BATTLING AMOEBIASIS. A hospital staff attends to his duties at the San Carlos City hospital, which has reported 230 suspected cases of amoebiasis in February 2023, according to Mayor Renato Gustillo. (San Carlos City information office)
DOH concern: Protocol

Vergeire told reporters the central office will confirm if Gustilo’s state of the health emergency EO was necessary.

She said government policy is for the local government to first seek DOH guidance before declaring a state of emergency.

The Negros Occidental provincial health office confirmed that there have been reports of illness in the northern city, but would not release figures nor the diagnosis until validation.

Francis Grupe of the PHO told Rappler, “we are in constant coordination with the local government and the DOH, but what can be divulged publicly will be up to the city.”

Water sampling

The mayor said in-house tests on random water samples from homes of amoebiasis patients found unidentified bacteria in six samples.

Tests of the water at the city jail, however, yielded negative results.

The Negros Prawn diagnostic laboratory in Bacolod City is validating the initial test results.

The mayor said the city sanitation office would test water wells in villages and ask water refilling stations to submit to testing.

What is amoebiasis?

Amoebiasis, or amoebic dysentery, is an infectious disease caused by parasitic amoeba Entamoeba histolytica. It affects the intestines and stomach, often leading to abdominal cramps, diarrhea, or bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms include lethargy, loss of weight, and ulcers in the colon or liver.

Amoebiasis is spread through people’s feces and surface contamination due to poor hygiene, or drinking contaminated water, eating contaminated raw vegetables and fruit, and unprotected oral-anal sexual contact.

What can happen if you get amoebiasis?

Untreated amoebiasis can be deadly as it can cause severe diarrhea.

In October 2022, six of 32 cases of amoebiasis died of severe dehydration in an outbreak among the Dumagat tribe of Barangay Upper Lumutan, General Nakar town, Quezon province. 

The Department of Health Calabarzon office and the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) are investigating the cause of diarrhea cases among members of the Dumagat tribe in Quezon, which have led to at least six deaths in less than two weeks.

In 2020, the DOH reported acute water diarrhea as the eighth leading disease (morbidity), with 56,710 cases or a rate of 52.1/100,000 population. Diarrhea, however, can be caused by various diseases, not just amoebiasis.

LEADING AILMENT. Diarrhea is in the top ten leading morbidity causes in the Philippines in 2020, according to the CPG on the Management of Acute Infectious Diarrhea in Children and Adults

How to prevent amoebiasis infection
WATER WOES. Amoebiasis can spread through shared use of contaminated water sources, like these artesian well .

Gustilo’s executive order asked all barangay captains to coordinate with their respective barangay health workers and launch an intense house-to-house public information drive to remind families to seek medical help for members with amoebiasis symptoms.

Here are some ways to prevent amoebiasis contamination, according to the San Carlos City Hospital and the DOH:

  • Boil drinking water between 15 to 30 minutes, especially in rainy weather or if the water is from a shared supply source.
  • Wash hands frequently with soap and running water for at least 20 seconds, especially after using the toilet, before eating and washing dishes, or preparing food.
  • Clean bathrooms and toilets often.
  • If any household member has stomach pain or diarrheoa, vomiting, and fever, immediately consult with the nearest health center. Do not report to work or attend school if you feel any symptom of amoebiasis.
  • Parents should prevent children from eating and driking outside their home or shool at this time.
  • Avoid eating uncooked foods, particularly vegetables and fruit which cannot be peeled before eating. Also avoid buying street food and ice.

The city has issued emergency hotlines:
City Health Office: 312-5447 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or by phone, 09369030128, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
City Hospital: 0963-4851186

-Rappler.com

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