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The Department of Health (DOH) raised yesterday to 585 the number of gastroenteritis cases from the Foreshore area in Tondo, Manila after eight more residents fell sick.

Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said, however, the reported cases are now on a downward trend although some might still surface in the coming days if the incubation period for gastroenteritis-related cases is taken into consideration.

Dayrit said that the symptoms of gastroenteritis usually manifests in an infected person in five days.

"To closely monitor the situation there, the DOH is starting a gastroenteritis watch. We expect cases to trickle in the next days," he said.

The death toll remains at five. The youngest fatality was four-month-old while the oldest was 70 years old.

Several Foreshore residents experienced severe diarrhea and vomiting last Oct. 23 and they blamed the contaminated water supplied by the Maynilad Water Services Inc.

But after examining the water collected from the area, health experts found out that the contamination was caused by human waste that seeped into leaking pipes. The stool samples taken from some patients also tested positive for "vibrio cholerae," the cholera-causing bacteria and salmonella typi and paratypi, the organisms that cause typhoid fever.

Health authorities collectively called the illnesses as gastroenteritis, the general term for stomach and intestinal disorder.

Dayrit added that epidemiologists are continuously monitoring water supply and the sanitary practices of the residents as part of an investigation that the DOH is conducting on the incident.

On the other hand, the Manila Health Department reported a total of 601 residents that have fallen ill in the Foreshore area, but only 85 of them remain at hospitals.

Clemente Boyet San Gabriel, chief of the Manila City Sanitation Department, said the 85 patients are confined in different hospitals in the city.

Of the 601, San Gabriel noted, 12 cases were reported during the Nov. 6 cutoff as he expressed optimism that no more cases would come up.

He said the city government, the DOH and Maynilad continue to implement measures to prevent any outbreak of disease. These include chlorination of water and rationing of clean drinking water in the affected area.

San Gabriel also denied reports about a leaking septic tank in Sta. Cruz, which could contaminate water supply in the area.

He pointed out that the water contamination crisis has made individuals conscious about their health.

"The good side of it is that Filipinos are now extremely conscious about their health. Each time they feel symptoms of diarrhea, they immediately go to the doctors for a checkup," he added.