Suspected meningo case prompts Manila gov’t hospital to shut ER

The Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center in Manila closed down its emergency room for quarantine on Wednesday after one of its patients showed signs of possible meningococcemia infection.

Based on information provided to the Department of Health’s (DOH) Epidemiology Surveillance Unit, the suspected case was that of a 55-year-old female patient who was brought to the government-run hospital in Tondo on Tuesday.

The patient, who suffers from chronic kidney disease, was scheduled for routine dialysis when her attending physician noticed rashes on her feet, potentially a symptom of meningococcal infection.

The DOH said the hospital management immediately took infection control measures, such as providing medicines to those who had close contact with the patient and closing down the emergency room.

Specimens were also collected from the patient to determine if she had meningococcemia.

The Gat Andres management said operations in areas not under quarantine were not affected, including the out-patient department.

The hospital’s infectious disease specialist also sought to allay the public’s concern about the incident, stressing that the disease cannot be easily transmitted since the bacteria that cause it cannot survive in the air for long.

Earlier, the DOH belied social media posts claiming there was an outbreak of meningococcemia in the country, after a 2-year-old girl in Valenzuela City was suspected to have died from the disease.

Her test came back negative, but a man from Pateros was confirmed to have contracted the disease.

Meningococcemia is the acute infection of the bloodstream caused by the Neisseria meningitides bacteria, which is transmitted by respiratory droplets from the nose and throat of infected persons.

Symptoms include high fever, headache, vomiting, nausea, stiff neck, delirium, seizures, coughs, rashes and severe skin lesions. —Jovic Yee, with Inquirer Research/ac