Bug downs Lapu-Lapu athletes

SEVERAL student athletes from Lapu-Lapu City who are seeing action in the ongoing Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) were temporarily downed yesterday by a stomach bug.

Ronal Ferrer, a nurse at the Tejero Elementary School where the athletes were billeted, said, they could not yet determine what caused their sickness.
“They all ate the same food and not all of them experienced indigestion,” he said.

The Lapu-Lapu City contingent have their own cook and all of them ate the same food, Ferrer added.
He said it was not possible that the student athletes ate food from outside because they were strictly prohibitedfrom eating anything other than those served by the delegation’s mess staff.

Ferrer said they also reminded the athletes’  parents not to give money to their children.

Ferrer said they noticed that several athletes kept going to the toilet while some asked for medicines.

He said there was no need to take them to the hospital for treatment as their condition  stabilized in the afternoon.

“They weren’t weak and this hasn’t affected their schedules and performance during the games,” Ferrer said.

Nena Booc, Department of Education (DepEd) Lapu-Lapu City division coordinator, said the problem started a few hours after breakfast.
Edilberto Ochia, Lapu-Lapu City’s sepak takraw team head coach said four of his team members suffered indigestion.

Softball coach Bridgette Marangga, whose nine players also suffered indigestion, said she suspects that it was the ube ice cream served to them that may have caused them to fall ill.

One of the players, Erica Jane Codera, said they ate chorizo, egg and rice for breakfast.

“It’s a good thing there were medicines for the kids that helped them and spared them from going to the hospital,” Marannga said.