Cluster of Five Fatal Meningo-like Cases Attending a Wake
Recombinomics Commentary
January 12, 2005
>> He said the new outbreak started when one of the victims, a 41-year-old man from Mirador Hill here, died of meningococcemia on Nov. 6. The four other fatalities reportedly attended the man's wake and died between Nov. 17 and 19…….The fatalities, whose names were withheld by DOH, were from the villages of Dominican, Crystal Cave, Sariling Sikap in Camp 7, and Puguis in La Trinidad, Benguet. Bautista said the recent victims were all women, one of them a relative of the "index victim" or carrier.<<
The above cluster of meningo-like fatalities suggests that the infectious agent is fairly easily passed from human to human. Since the cluster involved 5 fatalities and the total number of fatalities of confirmed meningococcemia cases for the entire country was only two, it would seem that these cases were in the meningo-like category
Although there may have been close contact during the wake, it seems that prolonged contact was not required for transmission since all victims lived in separate communities. The infectious fatal agent appears to have achieved modestly efficient transmission, that may require brief close contact. The transmission appears to be more efficient than the H5N1 bird flu transmission in Vietnam and Thailand, where clusters involved family members of the index case.
Isolation of an infectious agent would be useful. Although this was a cluster of five fatal cases, there is no mention of any infections or testing for avian influenza.
Media link