THE Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has confirmed that 26 persons from Bolinao were hospitalized due to paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) after consuming mussels contaminated with red tide toxin.
BFAR Regional Director Nestor Domenden, quoting a report from the local government of Bolinao and the Western Pangasinan District Hospital in Alaminos City where the 26 were admitted, said the victims were PSP cases.
Domenden, speaking over a television station in Dagupan early Friday morning, admitted that the BFAR is yet to declare the waters of Bolinao and the neighboring towns of Anda positive for red tide toxin.
But in coordination with the two local government units (LGUs), they have already gathered water samples from these coastal towns on Thursday for laboratory analysis.
The lone fatality was Manelyn Conde, 20, a housewife from Barangay Ilog Malino, Bolinao. She died on arrival at the Bolinao Community Hospital in the late afternoon of December 3.
Conde and all the victims suffered severe abdominal pains and vomited after eating mussels and shellfishes gathered in the waters of Bolinao, Assistant Provincial Health Officer Jeremy Rosario said.
Rosario said the effect of the red tide toxin is immediate, meaning the symptoms occur just after consumption.
Rosario told newsmen on Thursday that initially, five victims from Bolinao were hospitalized with one death.
He, however, said there is a possibility that more persons were afflicted and admitted in private clinics and hospitals.
The BFAR official said if the analysis on water samples obtained in Bolinao and Anda were found positive of red tide, they would recommend to the Red Tide Task Force the imposition of shellfish ban in the two towns.
He admitted receiving an advanced information on Thursday that red tide has already contaminated the waters of Bolinao, Anda and Bani, as well as Alaminos City.
Domenden, however, said they need to conduct confirmatory tests on the mussels samples where the victims sourced out their food, including their leftovers.
He said the advisory regarding the imposition of the shellfish ban that Red Tide Task Force may issue will be relayed to all the LGUs concerned.
Because of the reported PSP case, Domenden directed municipal and city agriculture officers and members of Fisheries and Agriculture Management Councils to now enforce the ban on the gathering, transporting, selling and consumption of shellfishes in their areas to avoid further harm to the consumers in Bolinao and Anda.
Alarmed buy the PSP cases, Bolinao Mayor Arnold Celeste called on the residents to avoid gathering and eating shellfishes in their coastal waters, asking the municipal agriculture officer to strictly implement this order.
In Dagupan City, the local government has tightened its red-tide watch to prevent the entry of mussels and other shellfishes from western Pangasinan, from where wholesalers are buying for distribution to various towns of Pangasinan.
The BFAR urged consumers to refrain from consuming shellfish and Acetes sp. or alamang from Bolinao, Anda and Alaminos City in Pangasinan since their coastal waters are now affected by red tide toxin.
These areas are the latest additions to the growing list of coastal towns and cities that have been walloped by the red tide toxin.
Still covered by the shellfish ban imposed by lawyer Benjamin F. S. Tabios Jr., officer in charge of the BFAR in Shellfish Bulletin No. 31 issued on December 4 are Milagros, Masbate, Wawa in Pangasinan; and Mariveles, Limay, Orion, Pilar, Balanga, Orani, Abucay and Samal in Bataan.
With Marvyn N. Benaning