DAVAO CITY — A ten-year-old grade schooler and a senior citizen died after suffering severe stomach pain a excessive vomiting which later turned out to be a diarrhea outbreak affecting 24 barangays in one of the thickly populated district of the city, Toril.
Jay Madroñal, an upcoming fourth grade went out of the house on Thursday night, July 14, to enjoy the street food known here as “Butchi’ (grilled chicken entrails) but early morning of July 15, his mother noticed he was frail and pale as he complained for stomach pain associated with loose bowel movement, which led her mother Violeta to bring him to Malta Hospital also in Toril but was referred to the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SMPC) as he they found his kidney had bruises and needed immediate intervention.
Jay was admitted at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the SPMC, the doctor told Jay’s mother, his kidney was compromised due to severe dehydration which led to his untimely death on Tuesday morning, July 19. The cause of death was severe dehydration resulting to kidney failure.
Violeta, a market vendor and her family live in Barangay Toril Proper, where most of the patients come from.
The City Government was not even aware until today, that another 67-year-old woman from Barangay Batalosa died on the same day.
The second fatality was confined at Viacrusis Hospital on July 17. The City Health only learned today, July 21, that on Tuesday at around 11:30 in the morning, the woman died due to dehydration.
The grieving mother Violate said Jay was excited to go back to school for the face to face classes in August. Violeta said she is not aware what triggered the diarrhea of his son.
On July 17, residents from the different village of Toril started to complain about abdominal pain and LBM and on the same day the city government issued an advisory;
The outbreak prompted the city government to suspend the operations of all food stalls in Toril District starting July 20.
Given the situation, the city government prohibits residents of the area to drink water from their faucets and not to use the same in cooking food if the heating temperature does not reach 100 degrees, advised everyone to frequently wash hands with soap, sterilize water
As of Thursday, July 21, the City Health office recorded 212 patients, an increase from the original 61 patients last Monday.
In a press statement issued by the Incident Command post, as reported by the city-government-owned Davao City Disaster Radio, of the 212 affected residents, 59 are out patients but monitored by the Toril District Health Office, 16 not admitted while another four are pending for verification.
Residents are prohibited from drinking water from faucets and not to get water for cooking if the temperature does not reach 1000 degrees, sterilized all water for consumption and use only bottled water.
The city government announced that the Davao City Water District has conducted water analysis wile the Department of Health and the Southern Philippines Medical center also did a parallel investigation, but until now, he result has yet to be announced.
