Disease kills over 150 in flooded areas

MANILA – The Philippines, still recovering from the back-to-back typhoons that killed almost 900 people, is again appealing for international assistance to stem the outbreak of a flood-borne disease that has already killed more than 150 people.

In response to the appeal, a three-man team of World Health Organization (WHO) officials arrived in Manila this week after the Philippines sought the help of the 140-nation Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network to fight the outbreak.

Adam Craig, an official of the WHO Western Pacific regional office in Manila, said WHO was taking note that it was a “big outbreak and the number of deaths is high,” even as the country’s medical facilities are “overstretched,” partly from heavy damage wrought by the flooding.

With 1.28 million residents still living in flooded areas, the Philippines health department estimates 1.7 million people “are at high-risk (of) exposure” to the disease and up to 3,800 could eventually get infected, the WHO said in a report.

The disease, which is transmitted mainly by exposure to contaminated urine of mammals in water in flooded areas, can lead to renal failure.

The Philippines health department earlier ordered 1.3 million people to take antibiotics to protect against disease.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque said the outbreak had overwhelmed government hospitals, many of which had also suffered substantial damage from the flooding.

“The sudden upsurge of leptospirosis cases after the massive flooding caused by Tropical Storm (Ketsana, locally named “Ondoy”) and Typhoon (Parma, locally named “Pepeng”) brought us to a situation where we need to get into special arrangements with medical facilities from the private sector to help the government treat patients,” he said.

Large areas have remained flooded four weeks after typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng hit Manila and Luzon, more than 2,000 people are in government hospitals due to leptospirois, a bacterial infection caused by exposure to animal urine in flooded areas. The health department said more than 130 have died and the toll is rising in the metro Manila area alone. It added the government has already distributed antibiotics in flooded areas in Manila and northern Luzon. It added that some 2 million in the still flooded areas are at risk to contract the disease.

“We have already sent an SOS to the international community because this is one of the biggest outbreak of leptospirosis not just in the Philippines, but in the world,” Tayag told lawmakers at a public hearing in Manila.

He said that from Oct. 1-15, a total of 1,887 cases have been reported in 15 hospitals in Manila region, Tayag said, adding the health department needed about $1 million worth of medicines to contain the disease.

Health authorities said 1.7 million people in Manila and two nearby provinces are at risk because flood waters in these areas are expected to remain until December 2009. The Philippines is bracing for another powerful typhoon in the northern regions on the main island of Luzon, evacuating thousands to avoid death and destruction.

Data from the DOH-National Epidemiology Center (NEC) also showed that the number of leptospirosis admissions in government and private hospitals in Metro Manila has soared by over 600 in just two days.
Based on NEC data collected from 15 government and private hospitals, the number of leptospirosis admissions increased from 1,027 last Oct. 15 to 1,665 as of Oct. 17.
The death toll also went up from 89 to 104 in a span of two days.

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