INQUIRER Global Nation

Since Tuesday, several people, mostly children, have been brought to the Talisay City District Hospital due to diarrhea.

So far, 13 residents were admitted to the hospital. Ten of them were moved to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City for more extensive treatment.

Doctors at the district hospital could not yet determine the cause for the small outbreak.

Dr. Paulina Dimpas suspected contaminated food or water as a cause. She said the hospital is collecting stool samples from the patients to determine if the diarrhea had viral, bacterial or parasitic causes.

Results of the stool tests would be available in a few days, she said.

According to radio reports, more than 20 residents of barangay Jaclupan in Talisay City suffered from diarrhea and vomiting. A nearby river, which residents use as a source of water, was suspected of contamination.

A midwife interviewed over radio said some residents would defecate in the same river.

But Dr. Manuel Bacareza, chief doctor of the Talisay City District Hospital, dismissed the report, saying that the hospital only received one diarrhea patient from Jaclupan, who had already been discharged. The rest were from various areas of Talisay.

Health officials of Jaclupan also denied the report.

Bacareza said that among the 13 patients still confined, three were from barangay Tangke, two from Lagtang, two from Cansojong, two from Poblacion, one from Tabunok, one from Lawaan, one from Mohon, and one from the neighboring town of Minglanilla.

Among the Tangke residents affected was the one-year-old son of Alma Relo-ao, 21, who was admitted yesterday.

Relo-ao, a housewife, said her son, Aljon, started exhibiting symptoms of diarrhea yesterday morning. She recalled that the last thing she fed her son was rice porridge.