Cotabato City – Twenty-five villagers in the North Cotabato town of Midsayap landed in a hospital Monday due to dysentery that stemmed from a contaminated water source.
The hospitalized villagers are residents of Purok 6 in Barangay Nalin 2 who are relying on an artesian well hand pump as a source of drinking water.
“All the victims are now being treated from intestinal bacterial infection due to the contaminated water they consumed,” Aladdin Buntuan, village councilor of Barangay Nalin 2, said over a local radio station here Tuesday.
He said recent floods that inundated the village could have caused the contamination of their water source.
Buntuan said the affected villagers experienced recurring abdominal spasms, vomiting, and loose bowel movement.
North Cotabato Governor Nancy Catamco said she dispatched on Tuesday a team of medical workers to control the possible spread of dysentery to other parts of the village.
The governor also sent off a team of engineers to the area to scout for other possible sources of safe drinking water for the villagers.