MANILA, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine health authority has moved to harness a fortnight outbreak of typhoid fever which has affected 1,400 people in a northern Philippine city, a health official said Friday.

    "We would say that the situation is partially under control. There are still people being admitted to hospitals but the number is far smaller compared to that in the previous week," Dr. Dennis Labro, spokesman for the government's typhoid outbreak mission team, told Xinhua.

    Labro said since February 16, a total of 1,410 people have reported typhoid or similar symptoms in the city of Calamba in the tourist Laguna province. The outbreak peaked in the past week as an unexpected large number of people reported suspected syndromes.

    Labro said the number of people who have been hospitalized is around 532 but some of the patients have been discharged so far.

    Of the 532, 37 were confirmed with blood culture tests and five are under intensive medical observation, Labro said, adding that no one is in critical condition.

    He said contaminated water is the most likely cause of the outbreak since one fifth of the city of Calamba is affected.

    "We are stilling probing the food contamination angle but in theory it is not so likely as such a wide scale of areas is affected," Labro said.

    Currently seven hospitals in Calamba are treating typhoid fever patients. There were reports of hospitals running out of medical resources and hospital beds but Labro said the situation is more or less under control now.

    Typhoid symptoms normally include high-grade fever, stomach cramps, diarrhea or constipation and general malaise. It could cause death in extreme cases.