GenSan reports ‘meningo death’

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Local health authorities are closely monitoring several persons, who possibly made direct contact with a four-yearold boy who died last week in a private hospital due to suspected meningococcemia.

Dr. Rochelle Oco, head of the City Health Office (CHO), said Wednesday that the boy, who hails from Barangay Labangal, exhibited symptoms of the disease when he was rushed by his family to an undisclosed hospital.

But Oco said they were not able to get blood samples from the boy, whose identity and other case details were withheld, as he died 30 minutes after arrival due to possible disease complications.

Oco said the patient had

rashes on large parts of his body, which is one of the symptoms of meningococcemia.

“We cannot really say for sure, in the absence of a confirmatory test, if it was meningo. However, if you look at the symptoms, specifically the rashes that almost covered the body, it’s a sign of active bleeding,” she said in an interview.

After receiving the report, Oco said they immediately dispatched their personnel to provide antibiotics to the boy’s family and other people who had direct contact with him.

These include those who brought the patient to the hospital and attended his funeral, she said.

“This is to prevent the spread of the disease, especially if it was really a meningo case, which is very risky for those who had direct contact with the patient,” she said.

Oco said the disease could spread through respiratory and throat secretions like saliva or spit and the utensils used by the patient.

She belied reports that the boy died after being vaccinated against polio as part of the ongoing “Sabayang Patak Konra Polio” mass immunization.

Oco said meningococcemia is a rare infection caused by the Neisseria meningitides bacteria, the same type of bacteria that can cause meningitis.

“To be clear, Neisseria or meningococcemia comes from a bacteria while polio is viral. These are two entirely different organisms,” she added.

In July, CHO reported a suspected case of meningococcemia but it turned out negative based on confirmatory tests.