Sorsogon boy, 6,  dies of red tide poisoning

LEGAZPI CITY – A six-year-old boy died while 12 of his relatives and neighbors in Sorsogon City were hospitalized after eating red tide-contaminated shellfish Wednesday night, provincial health officials said.

Dr. Edgar Garcia, Sorsogon provincial health officer, said the victims were rushed to the hospital when they began to vomit and feel dizzy after eating shellfish, which the father of the lone fatality, Vicente Cerillo Jr., had brought home.

The boy’s father, Vicente Sr., his wife and four other children aged eight to 17, together with a neighbor couple and their four children aged three to 11, were still confined at the Dr. Fernando B. Duran Sr. Memorial Hospital as of press time.

Garcia said the victims suffered from paralytic shellfish poisoning after eating the shellfish believed to have been caught in Sorsogon Bay.

In a health bulletin dated Aug. 14, the Bicol office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said the level of red tide toxicity in Sorsogon Bay remained very high, thus a shellfish ban was still in effect.

Last Aug. 12, a five-year-old boy died after eating crabs believed to be contaminated with red tide microorganisms.

Earlier on May 29, two children in Casiguran, Sorsogon also died of red tide poisoning after eating shellfish.