ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Iloilo province has 30 new leptospirosis cases detected between October 1 to 8.

Iloilo Provincial Health Office (IPHO) chief, Dr. Patricia Trabado clarified that not all cases are linked directly to rat infestation, which hit Iloilo province last August.

“That is no longer the case as rat infestation has been controlled. We suspect that these new cases came from domesticated animals,” Trabado said.

She cited that humans can get infected with leptospirosis by getting in contact not only rats’ urine but also of urine of dogs, pigs, or carabaos.

Of those aforesaid three domesticated animals, pigs pose the greater risk. There are roughly half a million pigs across Iloilo and some of these may be the cause of leptospirosis n the province.

Of the affected towns, Cabatuan has the most number of new leptospirosis cases with 13, and a total of 747 cases since January.

Tailing Cabatuan is Sta. Barbara with five new cases, Maasin with three, Balasan with two, and Carles with two.

The towns of Badiangan, Calinog, Janiuay, Pavia, and San Joaquin also had one new case of leptospirosis each