ILOILO CITY – Forty students and teachers have fallen victim to food poisoning after drinking contaminated pandan juice during a school party in Ajuy town, Iloilo province last week.
Ajuy Mayor Jett Rojas said 32 are currently admitted in hospitals in neighboring Sara and Barotac Viejo towns.
“From the 21 cases admitted at Barotac Viejo District Hospital, seven of them had amoeba,” Rojas told Manila Bulletin in a phone interview on Monday, Nov. 7.
Eight sought medical help from the Ajuy Rural Health Unit (RHU).
“Fortunately, all of them are now stable,” Rojas added.
The party for Grade 11 students of the Pili National High School was held on Friday, Nov. 4. But the victims started having symptoms the next day, Saturday.
Many did not initially seek medical treatment but they had to when a 17-year-old student died on Sunday, Nov. 6.
Rojas said that a doctor at Sara District Hospital suspected that the ice added to the buko pandan drink might have been contaminated.
He assured parents and teachers admitted at hospitals that the Ajuy local government unit (LGU) will shoulder their expenses.