Barangay Pulang Bato in Cebu City need not be put on quarantine since there is no outbreak of meningococcemia, the Department of Health (DOH) in Central Visayas said yesterday.
“There is no need to be worried. As long as you have proper hygiene, strong resistance and you take care of yourself well then you are not vulnerable to menengoccocemia,” Regional DOH Director Dr. James Bernadas said.
He said their team is monitoring the neighbors of the one-year-old baby girl who died of meningococcemia for any signs of the disease after they administered antibiotics to them last Monday.
Bernadas said the baby girl’s death isn’ the first recorded meningococcemia case in Cebu.
Her cause of death was confirmed in a death certificate signed by doctors of the Perpetual Succour Hospital where she was last confined.
Discharges
“We followed the protocol. That is why after it was diagnosed as menengoccocemia, the Cebu City Health Office sent a team to give antibiotics to those who were exposed to prevent them from the bacteria,” he said.
“There is a medicine that will help to fight and block the bacteria of meningoccocemia disease in attacking the central nervous system that might cause death,” Dr. Bernadas said.
The Meningococcemia bacteria can spread through discharges of the nose and throat of an infected person.
Some of the symptoms include severe rashes, coughing, fever, colds and loss of appetite.
Resistance
If the bacteria reached a person’s central nervous system, it will result to sensory or motor problem and may even cause him or her to go into a coma.
Babies and the elderly are most vulnerable due to their low resistance. A mother should also have strong resistance because they breastfeed their kids.
Aside from proper hygiene, Bernadas advised the public to eat a balanced diet, rest for eight hours and avoid vices like drinking and smoking.