Flood-borne Disease Kills 89 in Manila as New Super Typhoon Approaches

After the deaths and destruction unleashed by two successive cyclones, Filipinos now face more nightmares: a flood-borne disease that has already claimed 89 lives in Metro Manila alone and yet another potential super typhoon heading straight into Central and Northern Luzon.

People wade in flood water to buy goods at a public market in Pasig City east of Manila, Philippines. AP

For the last two weeks, the rare bacterial infection called Leptospirosis has afflicted 1,027 people in Metro Manila, killing 89 of them, for a high 8.6 percent mortality rate, Health Secretary Francisco Duque disclosed at a press conference on Friday, October 16, 2009.
He warned that the death toll from the new disease could rise rapidly. “We expect a lot more cases in areas outside Metro Manila,” said Duque, citing localities in the provinces where cases of the disease are still unreported and where stagnating floodwaters remain in densely populated areas.
Leptospirosis is a disease caused by the Leptospira bacteria which can be found in animal urine. A person gets the disease when he walks in floodwaters contaminated with animal urine and the bacteria enters through his skin. The bacteria attacks both the kidney and liver, causing damages to those organs.
Symptoms of Leptospirosis include high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle pains, vomiting, red eyes, yellowing of skin and eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhea and rashes.
Duque said one million people in the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon are at risk of exposure to the bacteria, while 700,000 people are vulnerable in Metro Manila.
Dr. Eric Tayag, a Department of Health expert on epidemics, said about 4,000 people could eventually be afflicted with Leptospirosis.
Meanwhile, another potential “super typhoon” with the international name Lupit (which ironically is the Tagalog word for “ferocity”) is churning in the Pacific Ocean and moving fast towards the already storm-devastated main island of Luzon.
Nathaniel Cruz, weather forecasting bureau chief of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), said they expect Lupit to enter the Philippines at 10 p.m. Friday or early Saturday.
Packing a maximum sustained winds of 75 kph near the center and a gustiness of 90 kph, Lupit is moving west northwest at 26 kph, Cruz said, adding that the storm will be named “Ramil” once it enters Philippine territory. It would be the 18th storm to enter the country this year.
Cruz said Lupit could gain strength and become a super typhoon as it crosses the Philippine Sea.
He warned Filipinos still suffering from the aftermath of cyclones Ketsana and Parma to be prepared “for an intense typhoon.”
“It can reach almost the super typhoon intensity before hitting land, if and when there will be no change in its course, direction and speed,” Cruz warned.
Relatedly, the death toll from Parma has surpassed that of Ketsana, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said on Friday.
The NDCC said Parma’s death toll was at 419, mostly buried by landslides in Baguio City and the provinces of Benguet and Mt. Province. Ketsana’s death toll has been placed at 341, mostly from floods.