• CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Bacolod City Health Office said it has logged 16 leptospirosis deaths, the latest a 23-year-old construction worker from Barangay Pahanocoy, who had contact with sewer water.
Dr. Grace Tan, head of the CHO Environmental Sanitation Division, said Dec. 26 that the construction worker was admitted to a hospital Dec. 1 and died that same day.
Tan said that while there was no clustering of cases in the barangay during the Nov. 25 to Dec. 16 monitoring, the CHO logged an 18.2 percent case fatality rate, with leptospirosis cases now at 88 with 16 deaths, or up by 100 percent, compared to the 44 cases with 11 fatalities in the same period last year.
Of the 16 deaths, two each were logged in barangays Pahanocoy, Banago, and 14, and one each in Taculing, Handumanan, Villamonte, Bata, Granada, Singcang, Brgy. 6, Tangub, Alijis, and Brgy. 23.
“Seventy to 80 percent of cases had declared exposure/contact with contaminated water or ground,” Tan said, adding that most common reasons for complications and death were delayed-health seeking behavior and denial of leptospirosis infection.
The CHO, meanwhile, said that total dengue cases since the start of this year stood at 555, with deaths still at three; one each in Villamonte, Tangub, and Mansilingan.
This figure is 44.7 percent lower than the cases last year of 1,004 with 14 deaths.
Barangays with clustering of cases, from Nov. 25 to Dec. 16, include Mansilingan, Tangub, Taculing, and Estefania.
“Most identified mosquito breeding places are collected water in uncovered containers in and outside homes. CHO strongly urges everyone to regularly check containers with water, especially after the rain, for mosquitoes and pitik pitik,” Tan stressed. | CGC
