Health experts are raising concerns over meningococcal disease in the Philippines, with Serogroup B as the leading cause of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) and accounting for approximately 68% of cases over the recent years.1
Pediatric infectious disease specialists Dr. Lulu Bravo and Dr. Anna Ong-Lim emphasize that IMD poses a severe health risk, particularly if left untreated. In the Philippines, one in every two (50%) of IMD case may result in death. Young children are at the highest risk, and the disease can progress rapidly, often proving fatal within just 24 hours.3 Symptoms can escalate from nonspecific early signs to a critical state in a very short time frame.4
