The Department of Health has added 10 more villages to the list of areas with a leptospirosis outbreak, bringing the total number of affected villages to 28.
The city of Caloocan was added to the list because the disease was reported in two of its villages.
“The number of affected villages has increased from 18 to 28,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque  said in a radio interview yesterday.
Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection caused by contact with floodwater, mud or food contaminated with the urine of rats.
Duque said 58 people have died of the disease since January.
Among the symptoms of leptospirosis are high fever, headache, muscle pain, eye redness, tea-coloured urine, cough, diarrhoea and vomiting.
If left untreated, leptospirosis may cause kidney failure, brain damage, massive internal bleeding, and death.
On Thursday, the Health department declared a leptospirosis outbreak in some villages in the cities of Quezon, Taguig, Pasig, Parañaque, Navotas, Mandaluyong and Malabon.
Duque said his department has ensured that hospitals are prepared and well-equipped to treat leptospirosis cases.
He urged Filipinos to avoid wading in flood waters.