Another Meningococcemia Death in Baguio City
Recombinomics Commentary
February 16, 2005
>> a six-year-old boy from Barangay Quirino Hill, died of suspected meningococcemia on Tuesday night at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center.
Earlier, health authorities lifted the "meningo alert" in the city, but warned of activities that would cause crowding. They said sporadic cases might still occur. <<
The number of deaths in and around Baguio City, as well as other areas in the Philippines, continue to grow and still no mention of bird flu testing. There have been many clusters linked via casual contact, but officials continue to ignore H5N1 influenza even though meningococcemia is a secondary infection of influenza. Investigators were puzzled by the high case fatality rate as well as the number of meningitis cases, but failed to do the obvious.
The neuroptropism of H5N1 is well established in birds, mice, ferrets, and now humans, and the failure to test these meningococcemia and meningitis patients remains scandalous.
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