Baguio’s diarrhea outbreak over — Magalong

 BAGUIO CITY  — Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong has declared the diarrhea outbreak that plagued Baguio since the last week of December is finally over.

Magalong on Thursday afternoon announced the end of the acute gastroenteritis illness that reached over 3000 cases since the last week of December was prompted by the results culled from the epidemiologic investigations conducted on water sources in the city including massive testing on private water refilling and delivery services businesses in the city.

“We are now officially out of the woods,” Magalong said. 

“We are now on the endemic phase where diarrhea cases are back to normal rate,” he added.

Before this development, Magalong said that the Baguio City government is "finding out the culpability of private water delivery services, whom we now suspect as the most likely culprit in the illness outbreak."

On Wednesday, the Baguio Water District declared all of its water sources safe from any contamination after clinically testing them.

Magalong said prompted Baguio City to become stricter in checking the compliance of private water delivery services to health standards.  

“Measures, standards and parameters, mas istrikto ngayobpara sigurado tayo na highly compliant sila sa health and sanitation standards," the mayor added.

Magalong said the outbreak taught his administration many things.

“May silver ligning dito. One is kelangan pala nating baguhin ang ating sanitation code and probably come up with a safe water ordinance," the city chief executive said.

(There is a silver lining here. One is that we need to revise our sanitation code and probably come up with a safe water ordinance.)

Magalong also said that the city needs to implement more stringent policies to ensure (water delivery services) are compliant with the standards.