13 villagers die of cerebral malaria

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Local officials are now certain that cerebral malaria has caused the deaths of 13 residents of a coastal village in Datu Blah Sinsuat, Maguindanao in recent weeks.

Moamar Manalao, chairman of Barangay Nalkan in Datu Blah Sinsuat town, confirmed that 13 of his constituents died of what was for them a “mysterious disease.”

Manalao said the victims complained of severe headache and painful abdominal spasms before they died.

Manalao said health workers who took blood samples from several patients in Barangay Nalkan have established, after a series of blood tests, that they were sick of malaria.

He said 20 other villagers selected at random also tested positive for malaria, a mosquito-borne disease.