By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Negros Occidental logged its first cholera-related death for this year, the Provincial Health Office (PHO) says.

PHO head Dr. Ernell Tumimbang said yesterday the fatality was a 74-year-old resident of Silay City’s Barangay Patag.

The case was the second cholera-related death in the city, recorded on January 13.

Since 2022, the province has already logged a total of four cholera deaths — two from Silay City and one each from the towns of E.B. Magalona and Murcia.

The PHO said they have already taken the water samples from the area where the latest fatality resided, and it will be sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

Tumimbang added the patient may have already been severely dehydrated when he finally sought treatment at the hospital.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal illness caused by the vibrio cholerae bacteria, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

People can get sick if they drink water contaminated with cholera-causing bacteria or through poorly prepared food, it said.

Symptoms of cholera include watery diarrhea, vomiting, thirst, leg cramps, and restlessness or irritability, it added./DGB, WDJ