Leptospirosis Outbreak in Negros Oriental, Philippines

Posted by Maribojoc Bohol on January 6th, 2012 in Local News

By Mary Judaline Flores Partlow

The provincial office of the Department of Health (DOH) in Negros Oriental has reported as of Thursday morning 25 suspect cases of leptospirosis, to include one death, although regional health officials have not yet declared an “outbreak” of the disease in the province.

The leptospirosis cases surfaced in the aftermath of tropical storm Sendong which battered Dumaguete and other parts of the province last December 17. The bacterial infection is water-borne, usually carried by floodwater contaminated with urine of rats and rodents. It is not, however, transmitted between humans.

Dr. Socrates Villamor, chief of the DOH’s Provincial Epidemiology Surveillance Unity (PESU) in Negros Oriental, said that Tanjay City, about an hour’s drive north of this capital, topped the list of suspect leptospirosis cases, with one death and 18 other cases.

Dumaguete came in second with three cases, followed by San Jose town with two, and Bais City with one. Of the total number, 11 of the patients were or are still admitted at the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital in Dumaguete.

A doctor from a private hospital in Dumaguete also confirmed that three other leptospirosis cases were reported, although Dr. Villamor said they have not officially received a report from this particular hospital.

While leptospirosis cases in the province have been mostly clinically-diagnosed, these are reported as “suspect cases” to the DOH until such time that blood tests are run to for confirmation, Dr. Villamor explained.

A team from the DOH’s Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Center in Region 7 based in Cebu is now in Negros Oriental to do the rounds of areas and hospitals with reported cases of leptospirosis. The team is currently in Tanjay City and will hopefully manage to cull some blood samples from patients coming down with the disease for confirmatory tests.

According to Dr. Villamor, health officials had already anticipated the surge of leptospirosis and other diseases in flood-hit areas in Negros Oriental after “Sendong” dumped excessive rainfall which caused rivers and other waterways to overflow, submerging many areas that were unaccustomed to flooding.

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