MANILA -- A suspected meningococcemia patient from Valenzuela City had been pronounced dead on arrival, the Department of Health (DOH) confirmed on Wednesday.
Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo bared that all persons who have been in contact with the suspected meningococcemia patient have been traced and given antibiotics to prevent the illness from developing.
“Transmission is being checked, the hospital has been fully disinfected and cleaned, and the workers now, our epidemiology bureau, is tracing all contacts,” Domingo said in a press briefing in Malacañang.
“Health workers, relatives, community members need to report to health workers to be given medicine to prevent meningococcemia,” he added.
Domingo said that persons in contact with the patient do not need to be placed under quarantine.
“No, they do not have to be quarantined. Unless you develop the illness, you’re not infectious and you're not going to spread the illness. You just have to take an antibiotic to prevent the illness from developing,” Domingo said.
To date, Domingo said that the DOH reported two cases of meningococcemia -- one from Novaliches and another in Pateros.
Test results of the suspected meningococcemia patient from Valenzuela have yet to be released but Domingo said that “it seems very compatible with meningococcemia.”
“The sample was just submitted yesterday, results will follow today but clinically it seems very compatible with meningococcemia,” Domingo said.
“We don’t need to wait for results before giving treatment,” he added.
Meningococcemia is an infection caused by the Neisseria meningitidis bacteria, the same type of bacteria that can cause meningitis.
Two hundred cases of meningococcemia are being reported yearly, the DOH said. (PNA)
