• CHERYL G. CRUZ
The City Health Office (CHO) said March 5 that typhoid cases in Bacolod City increased by 125 percent in the first eight weeks of this year, compared to the same period in 2024.
Dr. Grace Tan, head of the CHO Environmental Sanitation Division, said they recorded 18 cases this year, from eight typhoid infections in the same period last year.
Of the 18 cases, Barangay Mansilingan logged three, and two cases each in Handumanan, Singcang, Tangub, Taculing, and Mandalagan.
Typhoid fever is a life-threatening infection caused by the bacterium Salmonella Typhi, the World Health Organization said. It is usually spread through contaminated food or water; once the bacteria are ingested, they multiply and spread into the bloodstream.
“Salmonella Typhi lives only in humans. Persons with typhoid fever carry the bacteria in their bloodstream and intestinal tract,” the WHO added.
Symptoms include prolonged high fever, fatigue, headache, nausea, abdominal pain, and constipation or diarrhea, with some patients developing rashes, particularly on the chest and stomach.
Typhoid fever can be confirmed through blood testing. “(But) increasing resistance to antibiotic treatment is making it easier for typhoid to spread in communities that lack access to safe drinking water or adequate sanitation.”
Early this year, the Provincial Health Office also reported increasing cases of typhoid fever in Negros Occidental.
In a health advisory signed by Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, the PHO said that, as of Jan. 18, there was a 100 percent increase in cases, or 80 infections, from the 40 logged in the same period last year.
It urged local government units to conduct training on proper food handling and hygiene for vendors and food establishments.
The PHO also advised the public to avoid drinking untreated water, cook food well and always cover food to prevent contamination from flies and other insects, consume food within four hours of preparation, avoid eating unsanitary street-vended foods, wash hands with soap and water after using the toilet and before eating, and to keep surroundings clean and free from garbage to prevent flies from breeding. | CGC
