The local government of Maydolong confirmed that 146 cases of suspected cases of typhoid fever are now under surveillance.Twenty of these cases have been brought to the provincial hospital due to high fever and diarrhea. The other patients are in their respective houses and are being closely monitored by local health workers.According to Henry Afable, Maydolong mayor, the affected individuals come from the seven poblacion barangays and barangay Maybocog that depend on the Balalong Spring for their water sources.The mayor confessed that in the early years, the water source was pure and safe for human consumption. In later years, however, due to local migration, the new residents have tainted the purity of the water. Admittedly, Afable said, these residents could not just be automatically uprooted.“We cannot do that because the land is privately owned and they have put up their respective comfort rooms,” Afable reported.According to him, the comfort rooms have contributed to the big bacteria count of the water source.Although the problem has long been in existence, the situation lately has become unwieldy.To address the problem, Afable said that, he has instructed health workers of his municipality to inform barangay folks to boil their drinking water since water treatment facility and chlorination is inadequate.Secondly, he convened the Sangguniang Bayan of Maydolong LGU, so they could declare a “local state of calamity,” so they can access their Quick Response Fund (QRF) of P1.3 million. A portion of the Fund is available which will enable them to buy a P140,000 hypo-chlorinator which could purify water to desired concentration. The other amount would be spent for the purchase of medicines, he added.As of press time however, Mayor Afable happily reported, that no typhoid cases had so far been reported, and yesterday, only two show symptoms of the disease.“This could be a sign, that the outbreak is now declining,” the hopeful Mayor revealed.
- RSOE Edis
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