2 children dead in Maguindanao island village diarrhea outbreak

A diarrhea outbreak occurred on an island village of Maguindanao, leaving two children dead and 42 others hospitalized, health authorities said Wednesday.

Health Minister Saffrulah Dipatuan of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao confirmed to reporters that contaminated water sources caused the diarrhea outbreak.

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Dipatuan said they sent a health team to Barangay Bongo Island off the coast of Parang, Maguindanao. The team found the contaminated water from two sources the residents tapped.

They reported one of the water sources is an open well while the other is a closed one. Both, however, have been found to have a high concentration of e-Coli bacteria.

“One team sent there to treat the sick and investigate had gathered stool samples that confirmed high e-coli bacteria from water sources,” Dipatuan told reporters.

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Many residents, who are mostly Maguindanaon fishermen, did not have toilets and dispose of their human wastes elsewhere.

Since the dry season already began, residents had no choice but to get drinking water from the open wells.

The health ministry said the diarrhea outbreak in Maguindanao island had been contained. He also said the health team from the Parang local government was already on Barangay Bongo Island to monitor the situation closely.

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Also read: Maguindanao massacre verdict: Andal, Zaldy Ampatuan guilty

Diarrhea outbreak in the Philippines

In February 2018, a diarrhea outbreak killed 10 people, including an 11-month-old baby in Balabac, an island town in Palawan in the southern Philippines.

The outbreak lasted for nearly two months and downed 200 residents.

Health authorities traced the outbreak on contaminated drinking water that tested positive for coliform and poor sanitation due to the presence of E. coli, or Escherichia coli bacteria from human and animal waste, in the town’s water table.

In September 2017, a diarrhea outbreak also hit Quezon town in Palawan due to contaminated water sources. It is reported that four people died, and over 600 were hospitalized at that time.

According to Mayo Clinic, “Escherichia coli (E. coli), bacteria normally live in the intestines of healthy people and animals. Most varieties of E. coli are harmless or cause relatively brief diarrhea. But a few particularly nasty strains, such as E. coli O157: H7, can cause severe abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea, and vomiting.”