By MAR T. SUPNAD, With additional report from the PNA
MORONG, Bataan – Food is meant to nourish an individual but the exact opposite happened here Tuesday to more than 300 persons, mostly school children, who were rushed to the hospital complaining of severe stomach ache, among others, after eating banh mi, a Vietnamese sandwich.
Mayor Cynthia Estanislao, herself a medical doctor, led in containing the outbreak.
Most of the patients have since been discharged.
“Only 18 patients remain confined but they are all set to be discharged as well,” said former mayor Jorge Estanislao, the doctor husband of the incumbent mayor.
“Na-manage naman mabuti nila Mayor Cynthia at Dr. (Emma) Bugay (ang mga pasyente), talagang binantayan nilang mabuti (ang) mga patients, nagkasakit nga si Cynthia sa kaka-monitor sa kanila ng ilang araw,” added Jorge.
Emma, a Morong municipal health officer, said Friday 160 of the affected individuals were admitted to the municipal health center while 160 others were treated in dispensaries.
“They were vomiting and experiencing diarrhea,” she said.
Banh mi, Vietnamese for bread, is usually served with tomato, cucumber, onion, homemade liver, pork and butter, among others, as filling.
Bugay said Morong is noted for the sandwich with both locals and tourists patronizing the product.
It all started in the ‘80s with some locals being taught by Vietnamese refugees on how to prepare banh mi.
They continued to sell it after the refugees left in 1994.
Bugay said banh mi is big and is often shared by two persons so she estimated that not only 300 persons were affected in the outbreak.
She added some visitors from Olongapo City, Manila, and Pampanga brought banh mi at the same store on the same day.
“There might be others who got hospitalized in the said areas,” she said, adding a laboratory test of the patients’ stool showed presence of bacteria.
One of the patients, Gabriel La Madrid, 50, said he bought banh mi for P50 as “baon.”
“After eating, I got a headache and abdominal pain. Then I experienced diarrhea. That is why I decided to come here to the health center,” he said.
As for the food establishment where the contaminated banh mi was procured by the patients, Jorge said, “Mayor Cynthia had ordered its closure and a full investigation is underway.”