Deadly Nature and Leptospirosis

A hardy type of microorganisms are feasting on the havoc that Sendong created in the lives of people in Cagayan De Oro City and Iligan City. It rubs the misfortune with more sorrow and pain. Still people had to survive it.

THE devastation that Tropical Storm Sendong left behind brought an outbreak of Leptospirosis in the affected cities in Mindanao.

Not satisfied with the enormous loss of lives and properties to the victims, nature inflicted upon them a disease that makes their already-difficult situation more problematic with their bodies now compromised. The shaking chills it brings seem to keep the people in the nightmare of the cold floodwaters as they struggled to survive for hours in the dark.

Leptospirosis is a rare bacterial infection (0.2 cases per 100,000 populations in temperate areas). But in tropical countries like ours a maximum of 100 cases per 100,000 people is possible. The disease is not confined to humans though. It too affects animals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles from which got it.

The spiral-bodied Leptospira bacteria get into the human body through fresh water... [READ MORE]

This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 1 February 2012.

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