Disease Outbreak in the Philippines Follows Floods
2009-10-23 11:22
These patients had no clue what hit them.
They were wading in floodwaters during Typhoon Ketsana… and some days later, they suffered excruciating pain and couldn’t go to the bathroom. Some could hardly breathe and were coughing blood.
Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection caused by exposure to the excretion of rats, cats, dogs and other animals.
Three weeks after Typhoon Ketsana, wide areas have remained flooded in and around Manila, causing a surge in cases of fatal leptospirosis in poor communities.
More than 140 people have died, and nearly 2,000 leptospirosis patients remain in hospitals.
Romeo de Leon was nursing a wound on his foot when floods ravaged his house at the height of the typhoon. Days later, he found himself paralyzed by pain. He said the infection crept into his body like poison.
[Romeo de Leon, Manila Resident]:
"Little by little, you're not able to walk. Then you get the chills. I couldn't bear it, I told my wife to take me to the hospital. At that time, I really thought I was going to die.”
Leptospirosis attacks the muscles, causing extreme pain. It can adversely affect the brain, lungs, kidney and liver.
[Ricardo Tandingan, Attending Doctor]:
"Usually they die of respiratory failure. And beside of respiratory failure, they also die of, because they have no urine output, that's what we call anuric. So they have kidney failure.”
About 1.7 million Filipinos are at risk, as flood waters have not receded. Health officials are expecting more cases of leptospirosis and other flood water-borne diseases like cholera and typhoid.
Floodwaters in Manila and the nearby provinces of Laguna and Rizal are expected to remain until December.
Health authorities sought the help of the international community on Wednesday to contain the unprecedented outbreak. They’ll need close to $1 million U.S. dollars worth of medicines to contain the disease.
