MANILA, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- One hundred and nine people have been downed in the Philippines by tyhoid fever after drinking allegedly contaminated water, Philippine health authority announced Wednesday.

    Dr. Eric Tayag, head of the National Epidemiology Center under the Health Ministry, told reporters that medical staff have been sent to three villages in Quezon province in western Luzon island to determine the cause of the wide-spread epidemic that might have started in late October.

    He said the victims were believed to have consumed water from as tream that runs by the three villages. No chlorination were being done.

    Tayag said the experts have collected eight blood specimens and nine stool samples from the patients and water samples from 25 sampling points. Lab results are expected to come out next week.

    Typhoid fever is a bacterial disease caused by Salmonella typhi which is transmitted through the ingestion of food or drink contaminated by the feces or urine of infected people.

    Heavy rains in past days might have aggravated the situation in Quezon but health officials said the number of the reported cases is on decline.