When the rains come and the floodwaters rise in Metro Manila, they carry more than debris — they carry disease. Leptospirosis, a bacterial illness that travels through contaminated water and animal waste, has surged to 4,285 cases following weeks of monsoon flooding and three successive typhoons, overwhelming three major public hospitals in the capital within a single week. It is a familiar collision in the Philippine experience: nature's disruption outlasting the storm itself, arriving in the wards long after the water has receded. The hospitals have reached their limits, and the people most
Metro Manila hospitals overwhelmed as leptospirosis cases surge 25% in two weeks
Thousands of leptospirosis patients overwhelming hospital systems; patients facing delays in emergency care and potential transfers to distant facilities.