MANILA, Philippines - A one-year-old girl died of meningococcemia at the Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center (ARMMC) in Marikina City Monday night, prompting the hospital to close its emergency room for 11 hours.
In a telephone interview, ARMMC director Dr. Emmanuel Bueno said the girl was brought there just before 7 p.m. Monday night with fever, flu-like symptoms and rashes.
Bueno noted at around 9:15 p.m, the girl’s condition “progressed and she also developed convulsions and seizures.â€
He said the doctors intubated the girl to help her breathe, “but eventually, with her low blood pressure compounding the seizure, the patient died at around 11:45 p.m.â€
Doctors confirmed the girl suffered from meningococcemia through laboratory tests.
Marikina Mayor Del de Guzman said the girl was a resident of Barangay Mambugan in Antipolo City.
Doctors said the girl was first treated at the Rizal Medical Center in Pasig City but her family requested that she be transferred to ARMMC.
Health Assistant Secretary Elmer Punzalan had ordered the thorough disinfection of the emergency room and the distribution of prophylaxis – a preventive antibiotic – to all hospital personnel and patients who came in contact with the girl.