The E.B. Magalona Municipal Health Office (MHO) reported one case of cholera in the municipality involving a 30-year-old female resident of Sitio Tinapok in the coastal barangay of Batea, a press release from the municipality said.
The patient was diagnosed with “acute gastroenteritis with severe dehydration – cholera,” according to Municipal Health Officer Dr. Edmundo Janeo.
She was admitted at the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City on Friday. She had already been discharged and is now in stable condition.
Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholera, according to the World Health Organization.
Mayor Marvin Malacon together with Vice Mayor Eric Matulac, Councilors Edgardo Agravante Jr., Wyndel Depasucat, Jovie Madayag and Isidro Gomed Jr. visited Barangay Batea Thursday morning to check on the residents and warn them against cholera.
They were accompanied by Batea Punong Barangay Hernani Bunda and Municipal Development Planning Officer Engr. Erwin Poniado.
“We advised the residents to make sure their food and water are clean, and when in doubt, to boil their drinking water or subject it to chlorination,” Malacon said.
Likewise, the MHO team of Dr. Janeo also visited Batea on Wednesday. They got water samples from Sitio Tinapok and sent it to the Provincial Health Office, which will in turn forward it to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine for examination.
“So as not to worsen the situation, I, as chair of the Local Drinking Water Committee, will call a meeting with the LDWC on Monday morning] to discuss ways on how to contain cholera in our community,” Malacon said.
They will also call a meeting with the owners and operators of water refilling stations in the municipality to discuss this matter and urge them to have their water be regularly subjected to bacteriological water testing, the mayor added.*
