(Philippines) - There is no meningococcemia outbreak in Batangas, a health department official announced yesterday, despite the deaths of three patients who were believed to have succumbed to the disease.
Calabarzon region health department director Eduardo Janairo told The Philippine Daily Inquirer that all cases have been “isolated,” while confirming that a 53-year-old woman from Tanauan City in Batangas died of the disease on Sept. 21.
“We don’t have an outbreak. These are isolated cases. Every once in a while, we do see meningococcemia cases. But it’s not really widespread and there’s no clustering of cases in a particular area,” he said.
Other Batangas residents who were thought to have died of the bacterial infection included a 1-year-old girl from Lian town who died on Sept. 27; a 46-year-old man from San Jose town who died on Sept. 28; and a 2-year-old from Nasugbu on Sept. 29, Tempo reported.
Janairo maintained the cases were not evidence of an outbreak because the patients lived “far from each other,” despite being residents of the same province. He added that they are still waiting for the results of lab tests from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Mandaluyong to confirm if the three other victims died of meningococcemia.
He added that the middle-aged victim, who arrived recently from Saudi Arabia, likely acquired the disease in the Philippines. Bruises appeared on her body and she experienced an intense fever and neck stiffness before she died.
Meanwhile, another suspected meningococcemia patient from Batangas was sent for treatment to San Lazaro Hospital in Manila this morning, according to GMA News Online. The 16-year-old patient is still under observation at the hospital.
Despite declaring that there was no outbreak, Janairo nonetheless advised people to avoid crowded places so that they would not catch the disease.
Symptoms of meningococcemia include fever, headache, rash, and nausea. In more severe cases, patients experience blood clots and lethargy. Practicing good hygiene and getting vaccinated against the disease are the two chief ways to prevent infection.
The Philippines has been experiencing several serious health scares lately, including one that has not been seen in years. Decreased vaccine coverage across the archipelago has now led to a measles outbreak earlier this year, a national dengue epidemic that began last month, and polio recently cropped back up in the Philippines.
Last week, a 10-year-old child also died of diphtheria in Pandacan, Manila, which led the local office to immunize several adults and children to stop the spread of the disease. - AdChoiceTV News
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