Meningococcemia kills 4-year-old boy in Marikina

MANILA, Philippines - A four-year-old boy died on meningococcemia in Marikina City on Monday night.

A report by ABS-CBN News said that the boy was declared dead by doctors at the Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center at around 10 p.m.

The report said that according to the hospital's pediatrician, Dr. Paraluman Mendoza Manuel, the boy suffered from influenza for four days before he was brought to the hospital on Monday afternoon.

The doctor said that when during the few hours that the boy was confined at the hospital, he constantly suffered from seizures that lasted from three to five minutes.

"When we did a diagnostic test from the lesions, we found out it is meningo," the report quoted the doctor as saying.

In an interview over radio dzMM, Health Undersecretary Eric Tayag said that the public should not be alarmed by the latest recorded death due to meningococcemia.

"Unang-una po ang meningococcemia ay hindi po madaling makahawa. Kailangan nating ipaliwanag ito baka mamaya e magkaroon ng panic," Tayag said.

"Yung nagkakasakit po niyan talagang hindi na makakalabas ng bahay. Down na down ho talaga, so mahirap talagang maipasa 'yan kaya paisa-isa lang ang nare-report natin niyan," he added.