Cavite kid dies of suspected meningococcemia

SAN PEDRO CITY –– A four-year-old boy from Ternate town in Cavite province died of suspected meningococcemia, provincial health officials said on Friday.

But health authorities appealed not to spread a public “scare,” as laboratory tests have yet to confirm the child’s disease.

Dr. Nelson Soriano, the provincial health officer, said they have also administered prophylaxis to the child’s family members and those who had a close contact with the patient to prevent the bacterial spread should test results turn out positive.

A sample of the child’s cerebrospinal fluid was submitted to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City for testing.

According to Soriano, the child showed symptoms that fitted those of meningococcemia such as high fever and weakness.

The child was first brought to the Cavite Municipal Hospital and later transferred to the San Lorenzo Ruiz Hospital in Naic town. The child died on Thursday morning.

Soriano said meningococcemia is normally treatable with antibiotics and spreads only through a “close lengthy contact” with the patient, for instance, through the saliva.

Unlike viral diseases, he said the bacteria could not be passed on through mere “casual contact,” like breathing.

Soriano, however, still ordered local health officers to conduct a “community fever surveillance” or to place under close monitoring persons with high fever, a common symptom of meningococcemia./lzb