MANILA - Leptospirosis has killed 89 people in flooded areas in Metro Manila, the Department of Health (DOH) announced Friday.

DOH Secretary Francisco Duque said the 89 deaths were from the 1,067 people who had been admitted in at least a dozen hospitals due to leptospirosis in the capital.

He added that at least 1.7 million people in Metro Manila and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) are exposed to the bacteria because of stagnant floods.

Duque, meanwhile, said the DOH is closely monitoring flooded areas in Rizal province, where a total of 54 people have been diagnosed with the disease.

Leptospirosis cases were recorded during the first 15 days of October. He added that most of the cases were recorded on October 14 to 15, or more than 2 weeks after Ondoy struck.

Floodwaters swamped a large part of Metro Manila and Calabarzon provinces after tropical storm Ondoy (international codename Ketsana) dumped a month's volume of rains on September 26.

The leptospirosis deaths are not included in the government's official death toll from Ondoy, which has been pegged at 354, as of Friday morning.

A separate report on tropical storm Pepeng (Parma), meanwhile, showed that a total of 419 people have died due to landslides and floods.

Leptospirosis outbreak

Duque added that 3 barangays in Marikina have an outbreak of leptospirosis.

The barangays of Tumana, Concepcion I, and Malanday have all reported "not less than 5 cases" as of October 15. Marikina had a total reported case load of 82.

These areas had 0% leptosirosis cases in 2008, Duque added that "if you have zero cases in the past and you report even one case, there’s already an outbreak."

Duque added that the department will start prophylaxis in these areas on Saturday. The department has allotted P50 million for a treatment plan for the next 3 weeks. –Reports from Leilani Chavez, abs-cbnNEWS.com and ANC