The Department of Health (DOH) will deploy epidemiologists to verify amoebiasis cases in Negros Occidental’s San Carlos City.

According to DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire, 189 cases of amoebiasis were reported in the city.

“We are now sending our team here from the Epidemiology Bureau to go to our [Regional Office 6] para matulungan ang aming Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit,” Vergeire said in a press briefing yesterday.

“They will go to San Carlos City tomorrow [March 1] to verify this event,” she added.

Based on initial information, the infection could have been caused by contaminated water.

“Ang cause po nitong mga pagkalat o pagtaas ng mga pagtatae doon would still be the source of water,” Vergeire said.

San Carlos City Mayor Renato Gustilo declared on February 22 a state of health emergency “due to the increasing cases of amoebiasis.”

He urged his constituents to boil drinking water, keep their surroundings clean and maintain proper personal hygiene. (ABS-CBN News)