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BY MAE SINGUAY
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Friday January 13, 2017
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BACOLOD City – A government nurse from Hinoba-an, Negros Occidental has died of suspected meningococcemia.
A private hospital in this city where the nurse was admitted and expired was undertaking confirmatory tests at press time.
As standard procedure, the remains of the 61-year-old female nurse were cremated, Provincial Health Officer Ernell Tumimbang said.
She was admitted in the private hospital on Monday, Jan. 9 and died at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 11, said Tumimbang.
Remains of patients who die of suspected or confirmed meningococcemia — a bacterial disease — must be cremated within 12 hours to prevent the spread of the bacteria, said the health officer.
Health authorities confirmed that the nurse was working in a district hospital in Hinoba-an, about 200 kilometers south of this capital city.
Meningococcemia is caused by the Neisseria meningitides bacteria.
It is “an acute and potentially life-threatening bacterial infection of the bloodstream,” the Department of Health (DOH) said in a 2012 compilation of health advisories.
“The bacteria frequently live in a person’s upper respiratory tract without causing visible signs of illness,” the DOH said.
“[They] can be spread from person-to-person through respiratory droplets from coughing, sneezing, kissing, or sharing foods, drinks, and utensils,” it added.
Its symptoms include fever; cough, sore throat and other respiratory symptoms; pinpoint rashes, which become wider and appear like bruises starting from the legs and arms (large map-like bruise-like patches); severe skin lesions, which may lead to gangrene; unstable vital signs; may or may not have signs of meningitis, such as stiff neck, convulsion (in some cases), delirium, altered mental status, and vomiting.
Staffers of the private hospital who tended to the nurse and the nurse’s family were advised to take antibiotics, said Tumimbang.
Hinoba-an mayor Ernesto Estrao also advised that the nurse’s family be quarantined and the district hospital where she worked be disinfected.
Tumimbang said they suspect the nurse contracted the disease from one of her patients. The Provincial Health Office is currently tracing all the nurse’s patients.
There had been no case of meningococcemia in Negros Occidental. If confirmed, the Hinoba-an nurse will be the first, Tumimbang said.
Early recognition of meningococcal infection and prompt treatment with penicillin greatly improve chances of survival, the Health department said.
Aside from avoiding close contact with meningococcemia patients, maintaining clean environment/surroundings, and increasing resistance by having healthy diet, regular exercise and adequate rest/sleep are among ways to avoid infection, said the DOH./PN
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