Two persons who tested positive for meningococcemia are now recuperating at the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila.
One of them was a seven-year-old child whose foot had become gangrenous due to severe purpuric rashes.
“Their toes up to the lower extremities had turned black so there is a surgical intervention that we can do to change the dead skin,” Dr. Ferdinand de Guzman, chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at San Lazaro Hospital, said.
De Guzman said the two patients have been placed in the hospital’s isolation room.
“The signs and symptoms similar to that of a patient with meningococcemia,” De Guzman said.
Last Thursday, a two-month-old baby died because of suspected meningococcemia at the hospital.
Meningococcemia is transmitted through respiratory droplets from coughing, sneezing, or reusing eating utensils that were exposed to infected persons. Its contamination occurs mostly during colder months.
Its symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, rashes, bruises, stiff neck, convulsions, and vomiting.
Meningococcemia is endemic to Asia, which may lead to organ failure, severe disability, or death.
According to the Department of Health, there have been 168 cases of meningococcemia in the country since January this year. (Erma Edera)
