|
Saturday, November 27, 2004
P1.4M machine to detect blood disease sought
By Ernie N. Olson Jr.
BAGUIO CITY -- Health officials in this city have requested the local government to buy over P1.4 million worth of medical equipment and supplies needed to detect the presence of meningococcemia.
One of two suspected new cases of meningococcemia from Metro Manila died at the San Lazaro Hospital Friday but doctors did not say if it was the 58-year-old or the three-year-old patient who expired.
Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit earlier declared meningococcemia in Manila as fully contained.
Local health officials in Baguio, meanwhile, said the equipment they are asking for would be a big help to them in determining if a patient had the disease or not.
Meningococcemia, an acute infection of the bloodstream that later causes inflammation of the blood vessels, can mimic other diseases and could be mistaken as dengue or typhoid in most cases.
The equipment could still be used once the bacterial disease was contained, said City Health Officer Florence Reyes.
She said the equipment could be "maximized" to detect the presence of the "causative agent of the sexually transmitted disease called gonorrhea."
"Due to the current outbreak of clinically-diagnosed meningococcemia plaguing our city today, the Health Services Office requested for the purchase of a carbon dioxide incubator including initial materials, reagents and supplies needed for the procedure to detect the presence of Neisseria meningitidis, the causative agent of meningococcemia," Reyes said in a letter to Mayor Braulio Yaranon.
Patients with meningococcemia also usually develop high fever, respiratory problem, rashes and vomiting.
The disease is also known as meningococcal septicemia, meningococcal blood poisoning, meningococcal bacteremia or bacteria in the blood.
Reyes said the city's health services office laboratory, equipped with the carbon dioxide incubator machine, could also cater to suspected meningococcemia cases in the Cordillera and nearby provinces.
No new cases of the disease were reported as of Wednesday in Baguio, said the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (Cesu). Six patients earlier suspected of having contracted meningococcemia were found to be sick with either typhoid or dengue.
"The six patients reported under observation were re-classified as (being infected with) typhoid fever and one as dengue fever," said Dr. Celia Flor Brillantes, Cesu head.
Department of Health (DOH) records said at least 15 cases of meningococcemia were reported in Baguio City from October to November while four cases were listed in Metro Manila, Antipolo and Quezon province.
A report said three of the six suspected cases of meningococcemia admitted to San Lazaro died but Dr. Arturo Cabanban, officer-in-charge of the hospital, said the two were not meningococcemia but another type of blood disease.
The bacteria that cause the disease dwells in the nose and throat and the ailment is acquired through close contact with an infected person.
(November 27, 2004 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Durano 'holding 2 posts, collecting double pay'