PALO, Leyte – The regional office of the Department of Health renewed its call to the people to always observe personal hygiene to avoid the occurrence of typhoid fever.
The call of the regional health office through sentinel nurse Boyd Cerro came in the wake of the occurrence of typhoid fever in the different parts of the region afflicting 49 people as of yesterday.
“There is no better way to avoid the occurrence of typhoid fever except to observe personal hygiene and of course environmental sanitation,” Cerro told Leyte Samar Daily Express.
Based on their report, out of the 49 people afflicted by typhoid fever from the months of January up to yesterday, one had already died.
The lone fatality was identified as a 29-year-old male from the town of Alangalang.
The other cases of typhoid fever came from Tacloban City with 10; Dolores in Eastern Samar, 7; Sta. Rita, 8 and Basey 2.
Last year, seven people died due to typhoid fever out of the 668 who were afflicted by the disease.
According to Cerro, the common cause of the occurrence of the disease is due to poor personal hygiene and dirty environment.
“This disease thrives on these two conditions. That is why we are strongly advocating to our people to always observe cleanliness both on the personal aspects as well as on their environment,” he said.
Common symptoms of a person afflicted with typhoid fever include lingering fever the last up to three weeks and diarrhea. Typhoid fever is a life threatening infection caused by bacterium Salmonella Typhi often transmitted by contaminated water or food.
Cerro told Express that the disease cannot be totally eradicated in the region as it is classified as among the country’s indigenous diseases.
But the spread of the disease can be avoided, the regional health sentinel nurse stressed.
Thus, he said, campaign by their agency on how best to combat the spread of the disease is being strengthened by them.
“Since the delivery of health services has been devolved the local government units, we cannot do much except to conduct advocacy campaign and extend technical assistance to our local government units,” Cerro said.
He urged the local government executives to mobilize their health sanitary inspection and conduct inspection to ambulant food vendors, among others.
Also, their office would continue in appealing to the people to always observe cleanliness in order to avoid getting the disease.
