THE Bacolod City Health Office (CHO) said there is no reported cholera cases in Barangay Handumanan as of Wednesday, October 26.
Some of the school children hospitalized almost two weeks ago due to suspected food poisoning were found to have cholera.
Dr. Grace Tan, head of the CHO Environmental Sanitation Division, said yesterday the 10 remaining patients were already discharged from hospitals.
Between October 14 and 16, at least 145 pupils of Handumanan Elementary School-I after eating various food bought from the canteen and also from ambulant vendors, prompting the CHO to declare a “food and waterborne diseases outbreak” in the village.
Tan said the number of the cases could cause an alarm, but that they are still conducting an investigation so that it will not affect other residents.
Last week, a team of epidemiologists from the Department of Health (DOH) arrived in Bacolod to determine the cause of the food and water borne disease outbreak.
Dr. Jessie Glen Alonsabe, epidemiologist of DOH-Western Visayas, had earlier said the team will study and determine which food caused the children to suffer gastroenteritis, based on the initial findings of the hospitals, where the schoolchildren were confined.
Tan said they are still waiting the result of the examination.
She said that cholera also came from the contamination of food and water.
Alonsabe had earlier said that cholera is endemic in Negros Occidental, including Bacolod, but the reporting was not good so it was not properly monitored.
Moreover, Tan said they are conducting an intensive monitoring of the sources of food and water at the Handumanan Elementary School-1.
She added that they checked all the water sources, and the water distribution of Bacolod City Water District.
Last week, Mayor Evelio Leonardia told the Department of Education and other agencies to create or set a memorandum to regulate the vendors outside the schools.
Leonardia also pushed for food handlers class for the vendors inside the schools canteen.
The mayor also required the CHO to submit the number of patients suffering from gastroenteritis from January to October this year.
