Doctor dies of severe dengue; 4 others infected

MANILA, Philippines — A doctor at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) in Quezon City died of severe dengue on Wednesday while four other physicians were infected with the mosquito-borne virus, a report of the hospital showed.

Based on PCMC’s statement signed by hospital executive director Julius Lecciones, one of its fellows succumbed to the infection on Sept. 19.

“This month, unfortunately, we had five doctors getting ill as well from dengue, including the fellow we lost who also had a comorbidity due to diabetes mellitus,” Lecciones noted in the statement issued on Sept. 20.

The four physicians have fully recovered, even as all of them including the deceased were not inoculated with the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia.

Lecciones also revealed a surge in dengue cases at PCMC since May.

As this developed, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in a phone interview that an outbreak of dengue at a hospital is “unacceptable” while the death of the doctor is “lamentable.”  

“I am just waiting for the report of (Lecciones). They have to find out why this happened. If the report is questionable, I will have an independent body to investigate this,” Duque said. 

To prevent a repeat of the incident, the health chief has ordered all the hospitals of the department to check if there are dengue outbreaks in the communities surrounding them.  

PCMC, for instance, is situated in a highly-populated community. 

“If there are epidemics in a community, the hospitals (should) make sure that the concerned local government units are doing dengue prevention activities so the disease will not spread,” Duque said.

But Lecciones claimed that the PCMC has been enforcing protective measures like the use of insect repellant and early consultation for any febrile episode since last month.

“We have intensified not only our early reporting system for febrile episodes among our employees but also search and destroy efforts against the mosquito vector in the hospital and our immediate outside environment,” he said.

“Heightened awareness is key, coupled with early and proactive clinical intervention as appropriate. Our heightened vigilance continues for our employees, our patients and the larger community,” Lecciones added.