Mystery illness kills two more inmates

A mysterious illness struck the Manila City Jail compound once again with two inmates dying successively within 24 hours of still unexplained causes.

Records of the homicide section of the Western Police District (WPD) showed two inmates suddenly fell ill and died starting Friday night.

Agosto Azaña, 37, was reported having difficulty in breathing while inside Cell No. 8 at around 10:30 p.m. He was immediately rushed to the jail’s infirmary where he was given medication before being sent back to detention.

However, the inmate suddenly collapsed and was pronounced dead by doctors after being taken to the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center.

Hours later, inmate Joel Euroba of Dormitory 11 complained of difficulty in breathing and urinating. He was rushed to the same hospital, but was also declared dead on arrival.

The death of the two inmates followed the death last month of inmates Francisco Malinao, 28, and Fernando Flores, 38, who also suffered the same symptoms and died several hours apart.

It was not clear what kind of disease or illness the four inmates had succumbed to.

The Manila City Jail, a decades-old and cramped detention facility for suspects awaiting trial for their cases, houses more than 2,000 inmates. The jail was constructed in the pre-war years to accommodate only less than 1,000 prisoners.

Lung and skin diseases easily spread among the inmates due to the cramped condition at their detention cells.

Several years back, a lot of detainees suffered from leptospirosis, a disease characterized by high fever and convulsion contracted through urine and feces of rats which stagnate in floodwaters.

There were reports that jail officials remedied the situation by installing new drainage pipes to flush out the floodwaters that fail to recede for several days. But the solution was only shortlived as the jail facility still becomes flooded during rainy days.

The STAR tried but failed to get the comments of the jail warden since no media men are allowed inside the facility without prior appointment.