Cops, inmates wear masks after detainee died due to suspected meningococcemia

Police officers on duty were temporarily prohibited to go home or leave the precinct and that no visitors are allowed to get in the jail for the meantime. (Pixabay file photo)

Precautionary measures were being implemented in a police facility in Biñan, Laguna after a female detainee died due to suspected meningococcemia.

In a report by Jun Veneracion on GMA’s 24 Oras on Monday, April 8, police officers on duty were temporarily prohibited to go home or leave the precinct and that no visitors are allowed to enter the facility for the meantime. Both the cops and inmates were also seen wearing face masks.

“Wala munang papasok kahit sino para ma-sure natin na walang mahawaan (No one is allowed to enter the jail premises for the meantime to make sure that no one gets infected),” Lieutenant Colonel Danilo Mendoza, chief of Biñan City Police, said during the interview.

It was last Saturday when media reported that a 23-year-old female inmate was brought to a hospital and later to the Research Institute For Tropical Medical Medicine (RITM) after she exhibited symptoms similar to that of meningococcemia, according to doctors at the Biñan Community Hospital.

It has yet to be confirmed whether the woman, who was arrested due to illegal gambling, indeed died due to meningococcemia or not, but a Health official stressed that her death may not be because of the said disease.

“We’ve had preliminary test pero mukhang hindi naman meningococcemia, ang nakikita natin ay mukhang streptococcus (but it seems like it is not meningococcemia, what we observed is that it may be streptococcus),” Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Eric Domingo was quoted as saying in the report.

In January, there were also reports that a patient in Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center (GABMMC) in Tondo, Manila has a suspected meningococcal infection that alarmed the public and led to the temporary closure of the hospital’s emergency room for disinfection.

[READ: ER of Tondo hospital temporarily closed due to suspected meningococcal infection]

Symptoms of meningococcemia include fever, rashes, vomiting, and headache.

According to a public health advisory issued by GABMMC’s infectious disease (ID) specialist Yapendon Fresco, one cannot get easily infected by meningococcemia, unlike measles and chickenpox.

“Paano nakukuha ang meningococcemia? Droplet and contact transmission. Kapag nasinghot ang hangin na may bacteria na nanggaling sa ilong ng isang carrier o may sakit, pwede mahawa ang nakasinghot (How can meningococcemia be obtained? Through droplet and contact transmission. If someone inhaled the air that has bacteria which came from the nose of a carrier or a person who has the disease, then that person can be infected),” Fresco said in a statement shared by GABMMC on its Facebook page.

“Maaari ring mahawa kung ang likido tulad ng sipon at dugo ng carrier o pasyente ay dumapo o madikit sa mata o bibig ng ibang tao (A person can also be infected if liquids like the mucus and blood of the carrier or patient get into or make contact with the eye or mouth of others),” the specialist added.