Afflicted children are placed on a table as patients wait at a hospital in Tagoloan town in Misamis Oriental province, located in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao on November 19, 2008 following a suspected outbreak of cholera.

At least two people have died and more than 1,500 are in hospital, health officials said. National Epidemiology Centre chief Eric Tayag said patients were suffering severe stomach pains and diarrhoea but added that field doctors were trying to verify if all the cases were due to cholera.