Surigao City, Jan. 14, 1998 - The government announced that at least 34 persons have been poisoned by shell fish caught from waters contaminated with red tide organisms.
Affected are barangays near Barobo Bay, Surigao del Sur, where shellfish registered high levels of red tide toxin, up to 2,788 micrograms per 100 grams of shellfish meat.
Dr. Julieto Saburnido, chief of the Department of Health's Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit in Caraga, said the victims suffered paralysis, lockjaw, dizziness, headaches, vomiting and general malaise.
The government has sent health officers to nearby Lianga Bay and Bislig Bay to test the shellfish and the waters for red tide toxin.
Meanwhile, fishermen and their families in coastal barangays are complaining that they have had no means of livelihood for two weeks since the ban on the gathering and selling of contaminated shellfish was imposed by health authorities.
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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