Treñas worried by upsurge of typhoid cases in city
City Mayor Jerry Treñas is alarmed by the surge in the number of typhoid cases in the city. He thus mobilized the Association of Barangays Captains (ABC) in the city's six districts to help monitor the disease.
Treñas said he has already requested the assistance of the city's barangay captains through Liga ng mga Barangay President Irene Ong. He said barangay officials aside from the barangay health workers must do their share by educating their residents on the mitigating measures to stop the problem.
Typhoid cases in Iloilo City already reached to 217 with four reported deaths. (See related story on Page 2) Three of the number of deaths are still being confirmed by health officials. The City Proper has the most number of cases with 120. The typhoid cases is quite alarming because the disease is not confined to one village.
The Department of Health-Center of Health Development has already undertaken case and control investigation in three waterfront barangays namely Monica, Zamora and Veterans Village.
In fact, it was also the regional health office that requested for a technical assistance from the National Epidemiology Center (NEC) for case investigation of typhoid cases here.
The health department likewise recommended for the provision of emergency drugs and medicines and Primary Health Care (PHC) media for water analysis to the CHO and update data from sentinel sites.
Treñas said they mobilized the help of the barangay officials to closely monitor all the individuals suspected of suffering from typhoid cases. The mayor, health officials from Department of Health and CHO met yesterday afternoon to combat the problem.
The help of the barangay officials is vital in one of the recommendations made by the health department which is to "intensify environmental sanitation activities." It is also recommended to ensure the safety plan in place; follow up water analysis sampling and put up outbreak response in place in the CHO.
The chief executive also said they were informed by Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) Interim Manager Edwin Reyes that the sole local water distributor is also exercising measures to stop the disease. A sample of water in the affected areas has been subjected for water analysis. The result has yet to be released.
It was learned the MIWD is undergoing precautionary measures by increasing their flushing activities for their transmission lines and installing additional chlorinating units to further ensure potability of the water supply.