ZAMBOANGA CITY – The acute gastroenteritis (AGE) outbreak in Zamboanga City has already claimed nine lives and affected 1,539 since March 28 in this city.
Of the total nine deaths, five were females, aged two months to 50 years old.
Six of the fatalities were under five years old, and five deaths had co-morbidities such as pneumonia, malnutrition, meningitis and myocardial infarction. Seven of them expired at the Zamboanga City Medical Center.
The Department of Health (DoH) said the AGE outbreak in Zamboanga City was caused by “rotavirus and not norovirus.”
Dr. Ma. Agnes Mabolo, head of DoH Health Support Unit, said 65 percent of the 22 samples that were sent to the Research Institute for Topical Medicine (RITM) for laboratory test were positive for the rotavirus.
Mabolo said the DoH water samples gathered by an epidemiologist in this city from deep wells, jars, faucets, refilling stations, and other source of water, contain fecal materials that caused the diarrhea.
Mabolo also said the rotavirus can be composed of fecal materials either by humans or animals. (Nonoy E. Lacson)