DOH probes Dumagat community diarrhea outbreak  

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) regional office in Calabarzon and the Integrated Provincial Health Office are investigating the cause of a diarrhea outbreak in a Dumagat community in Quezon.

The DOH said 38 cases and six fatalities were recorded among members of the Dumagat tribe in Barangay Upper Lumutan in General Nakar town from Sept. 26 to Oct. 6.

DOH-Calabarzon director Ariel Valencia gave assurance that the Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit is providing the necessary assistance, including medicine, to residents of the affected barangay.

”We are saddened by what happened to our Dumagat natives where many lost their lives because they were not immediately diagnosed and taken to our primary health care facility,” he said.

The DOH regional office said initial findings showed diarrhea cases were due to amoebiasis.

”DOH-Calabarzon is still awaiting for the laboratory findings,” it said.

Fever, abdominal pain, watery stool and joint pain were among the symptoms observed among the patients while some had cough and cold.