3,440 cases, 220 deaths: Leptospirosis outbreak in Philippines as floods persist

Government corruption and incompetence are indirectly causing an outbreak of disease in the Philippines, prompting health authorities to appeal to citizens to refrain from wading in floodwaters.

Street floods have not only prolonged work and class disruptions since the start of the country’s monsoon season, but cases of leptospirosis have also spiked in the capital and adjoining areas since the beginning of August.

The Philippine Department of Health reported 3,440 cases nationwide from January 1 to August 8, 2026, with 220 deaths, the majority of which happened as the country’s rainy season commenced.

One of the government’s biggest specialty hospitals, the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), announced it would temporarily refuse “walk-in patients” to dedicate its beds to leptospirosis patients. NKTI’s emergency ward has reached its limit, and the hospital has repurposed its covered gymnasium into a temporary overflow ward to handle the influx of patients.

The disease is a bacterial illness passed from animals to people. A person contracts it when water or dirt carrying animal urine touches wounds on the skin, the eyes, nose, or mouth.

In most cases in the Philippines, patients contract leptospirosis by wading through floodwaters they share with sewer rats.

The disease causes flu-like signs, but it can turn into a severe, dangerous condition and even cause death. Signs of illness may appear as early as two days or as late as three weeks later.

Filipino infectious disease expert Dr. Rotgene Solante advises those who are forced to wade through Manila’s flooded streets to immediately and thoroughly wash themselves with antibacterial soap as soon as possible.

He added that taking antibiotic prophylaxis within 24 to 48 hours of exposure is a must, emphasizing that high mortality stems from delays in seeking hospital care and severe kidney complications.

Flooding of Metro Manila’s streets is expected during heavy rains, monsoons and typhoons. Built on river deltas and caught between the sea and the country’s biggest lake, the metropolis is in fact partly below sea level.

But Europe’s low countries, especially the Netherlands, have long shown that such a condition is no longer an excuse for perennial, even permanent flooding.

Experts and urban planners say the reasons Manila’s sewerage, pumping stations, river dikes and seawall protection systems could never seem to cope are their faulty designs, substandard construction and phantom projects that only manage to worsen street floods, affecting the city of 16 million residents and workers.

Confusion as to when work and class suspensions must be announced—and by whom—also causes residents to be caught in floods, exposing them to bacteria and disease.