Weeks after back-to-back cyclones left nearly 1,000 people dead, the Philippines is grappling with an outbreak of a deadly flood-borne disease that has infected survivors from areas where dirty water has yet to subside, officials say.
In a report to emergency relief agencies, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said that as of 26 October, there were 2,158 confirmed cases of Leptospirosis infections, with 167 deaths reported by the National Epidemiology Centre.
With more than 120,000 people crammed into evacuation centres in Manila and outlying areas that are still submerged in putrid, stagnant water, Duque said the likelihood of more outbreaks was high.
The deaths linked to Leptospirosis – a bacterial infection caused by contact with water contaminated by rat and other animal urine – were in addition to the 929 people who died from devastation wrought by tropical storm Ketsana, which hit on 26 September, and Typhoon Parma, a week later. According to the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), more than nine million people were affected by the two storms.
“There is a surge in the number of hospitalized cases of Leptospirosis from among the victims of recent typhoons who have [lost] … their homes,” Duque said in a memorandum order issued last week to state-run hospitals to prioritize cases of the disease.
“Various local government units and hospitals have reported an increasing number of cases of Leptospirosis among communities that have been submerged in flood waters and from among those who have been transferred to evacuation sites,” it read.
Duque said the best preventive measure to combat the disease is to drain the flooded areas and force people to move – something that government is hard-pressed to do since many areas remain inundated and some families have returned to their partly submerged homes to prevent looting.
As a stop-gap measure, he said the health department had sent teams to provide antibiotics to those infected while at the same time seeking the help of the World Health Organization (WHO) in containing the outbreak.
Private hospitals have also agreed to take in patients that state-run hospitals can no longer accommodate, Duque said.
National epidemiology chief Eric Tayag said the antibiotics were meant to cut the infection rate in half as a preventive measure.
The disease is characterized by jaundice and flu-like symptoms and ultimately renal and kidney failure, requiring dialysis.
“One out of 10 of those infected by Leptospirosis can have complications that can cause death. This includes acute renal failure,” Tayag told reporters.
WHO has dispatched a four-man team of experts to the country to help control the outbreak.
“They will be assisting the government by providing technical assessments and assistance in the surveillance, epidemiological and clinical care of those who fall sick from the disease,” said Soe Nyunt-U, WHO representative to the Philippines, noting that apart from Leptospirosis, thousands still living in evacuation camps where access to water and sanitation remain poor, are in danger of other infectious diseases.
Source: IRIN, 28 Oct 2009
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