No meningo cases in Ilocos region

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union — All the eight suspected cases of meningococcemia in Ilocos region were confirmed negative for the dreaded disease. The result of the laboratory tests was received by the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU) of the Department of Health regional office here yesterday.

Dr. Cherry Versola-Pekas, RESU officer-in-charge, told The STAR that the five cases in Pangasinan and three cases in La Union were negative of the deadly disease according to a report from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Manila.

Pekas said the five cases in Pangasinan were from the towns of Binmaley, Mangatarem, Bayambang, Sta. Barbara and Balungao while the three in La Union were from the towns of Naguilian and Bagulin and this city.

All eight cases were reported during the first six months of the year. RESU extracted blood samples from the patients and sent them to RITM for confirmatory examinations.

Pekas said most of the patients were admitted at the Region 1 Medical Center in Dagupan City and at the Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center here. Most of them survived but an eight-month-old baby from this city died of another ailment. – Jun Elias