Mandaue boy’s death sparks meningo scare

HEALTH SHIELD. A child in a community in barangay Canduman where a boy who was suspected to have fatally contracted meningococcemia wears a protective mask as a precaution.

A boy suspected to have contracted meningococcemia Saturday morning died at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.

His death sent residents of a community in barangay Canduman in Mandaue City on a health alert frenzy, many of them started to wear surgical face masks as a precaution against the contagious disease.

The victim was identified as Eldemer Acido, a native of Borbon, northern Cebu who had lived with his brother, Elden Mike in a rented house in Canduman.

Joel Fausto, 28, who lived a house away from the victim, told Cebu Daily News that the meningo scare prompted them to move to another house.

“I am really afraid because I have two children, a one-year-old and a six-year old,” Fausto said.

Last Friday, Eldemer had high fever and rashes all over his body. Fausto claimed the patient was taken to a quack doctor before going to the hospital. Fausto and Elden Mike are co-workers in a recycling company.

Reynan Cimafranca, chief of Regional Epidemology Surveillance Unit (RESU), sent a team to Vicente Sotto hospital to investigate the boy’s case.

“It is not yet confirmed. It is still a suspected case,” he added.

The barangay health center advised people not to panic and helped those living in the compound by giving prophylactic or preventive medicines to residents as a precaution.

Another neighbor of the victim, Aiza Felisilda, 22, is also afraid for her three-year old child.
“He (Eldemer) started