ANOTHER child has died in Northern Mindanao from a bacterial infection caused by meningococcemia, the third in a span of a few days, health authorities said Tuesday, September 13.
The latest fatality was identified as Jhasmine Villagracia, a grade one pupil at Bayabas Elementary School, who was buried less than 24 hours after she died last week.
The 6-year-old daughter of a fisherman died on Thursday, September 8 at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) after 15 hours of fighting for her life.
The victim's aunt, Michelle Arriba, said the family brought the child to the hospital after the latter suffered fever, pale lips, rashes, and map-like inky spots on the skin.
"Kinsa magdahom nga hilanat nga ordinaryo raman to unya natingala nami kay naa na lagom-lagom unya luspad na mao gidala sa hospital. Nagtoo ko nga lunod nga hilanat ra gyud to og dili meningococcemia kay daan to naay piang kay natagak sa kahoy," the aunt said.
Dr. Fe Bongcas, City Health Officer, said the victim died in less than 24 hours upon admission and was diagnosed with meningococcemia.
Bongcas said aside from symptoms like fever and rashes, seizure (isolated case), the most striking sign of the disease is the map-like patches on the skin.
"Ang sintomas are fever, headache, kapoy ang lawas ug kung naa na gani murag mapa nga lagom-lagom maalarma kana," Bongcas said.
Bongcas said medical expert could have saved a victim's life if the family had consulted a physician at the early stage.
"Pwede pa unta maagapan pero dili 100 percent kay depende man sa immune system pud sa bata," Bongcas added.
Doctors at the NMMC instructed the victim’s family to immediately bury the child.
The family buried the 6 year old at the Bolonsiri public cemetery in Barangay Camaman-an.
As a precaution, everyone in the Villagracia household were given doses of medicines by village health workers.
The Bayabas barangay health center also distributed capsules of Ciprofloxacin for adults and Rifampicin Suspension, a liquid antibiotic for children.
At Bayabas Elementary School, principal Rosemarie Dullente sought the help of the City Health Office (CHO) in giving out medicines to the whole school population most especially those who came in contact with Villagracia, last Friday.
Dullente said she also directed the cleaning of the classrooms and campus surroundings to prevent the spread of disease. The school has a total of 1,333 students.
She also ordered the suspension of all grade 1 classes pending further notice from the school administration.
Dullente said Jacel Jane Cadusales, the school nurse, is on standby to assist in monitoring children who may have shown signs of having contracted the infection.
But it was business as usual for the Grade 3 Humility class, said Fatima Caingin, the classroom adviser.
However, Caingin said, she told her class to wear masks at all times when inside the campus.
Grade 3 Humility was adjacent to the classroom where Villagracia used to go to.
Nice Bingona, a nurse at CHO, said it is important for the people in the community to clean their surroundings so the spread of any disease could be prevented.
A NMMC official, who refused to be named since he has no authority to give out information to the media, told reporters that last week two children, one of them Villagracia, had died due to meningococcemia.
On Monday, another minor succumbed to the infection in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.
According to health experts, meningococcemia is an infection caused by the Neisseria meningitidis bacteria, the same type of bacteria that can cause meningitis.
