Our Municipal Health Office (MHO) reported one (1) case of cholera in the Municipality of E. B. Magalona.

The patient is a 30-year-old female resident of Sitio Tinapok in the coastal barangay of Batea, according to Municipal Health Officer Dr. Edmundo Janeo.

She was diagnosed with “acute gastroenteritis with severe dehydration- cholera.”

She was admitted at the Teresa L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City Friday [Sept. 23]. She had been discharged and is now in stable condition.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholera, according to the World Health Organization.

I, together with Vice Mayor Eric Matulac, Councilors Edgardo Agravante Jr., Wyndel Depasucat, Jovie Madayag, and Isidro Gomed Jr., visited Barangay Batea this morning [Sept. 29] to check on the residents and warm them against cholera.

We were accompanied by Batea Punong Barangay Hernani Bunda and Municipal Development Planning Officer Engr. Erwin Poniado.

We advised the residents to make sure their food and water are clean, and when in doubt, to boil their drinking water, or subject them to chlorination.

Likewise, the MHO team of Dr. Janeo had also visited Batea yesterday [Sept. 28]. They got the water samples from Sitio Tinapok and sent them to the Provincial Health Office, which will in turn send them to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine for examination.

So as not to worsen the situation, I, as chair of the Local Drinking Water Committee, will call a meeting with the LDWC on Monday morning [Oct. 3] to discuss ways on how to contain cholera in our community.

We will also call a meeting with the owners and operators of water refilling stations in the municipality to discuss this matter and urge them to have their water be regularly subjected to bacteriological water testing.

Stay safe, Saraviahanon!

*Photos show E. B. Magalona officials, led by Mayor Marvin Malacon, visiting the residents of Sitio Tinapok Barangay Batea this morning [Sept. 29], where an incident of cholera case was reported.*/CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS