Laguna detainee tests negative to meningococcemia — DOH

SAN PEDRO CITY — The female detainee who died April 6 in Biñan City in Laguna province tested negative for meningococcemia, the Department of Health (DOH) on Monday said.

Dr. Eduardo Janairo, Health Department chief in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon, said in a text message that test results came back from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City, which tested specimen samples taken from the 24-year-old female detainee.

Doctors at the Ospital ng Biñan, where the woman was initially rushed to after she lost consciousness, sent her to the RITM on suspicions she had contacted meningococcemia, a contagious and potentially life-threatening infection caused by the Neisseria meningitidis bacteria.

The hospital director Dr. Melbril Alonte earlier said the woman showed symptoms such as high fever and rashes, similar to those of meningococcemia.

As a precaution, the city health office administered prophylaxis and distributed face masks to other 150 detainees and jail guards in the city police detention center.

The woman was held there after she was arrested on March 31 for an illegal drug case. /je