Boy, 12, first firecracker-related tetanus death

MANILA, Philippines – A 12-year-old boy from Sta. Rosa, Laguna was the first to die from tetanus due to firecrackers in the recent New Year revelry.

The boy sustained a minor wound from an exploding piccolo and he was not given an anti-tetanus shot, Health Secretary Janette Garin told the media forum Kapihan sa Manila Bay yesterday.

“He was brought to the hospital on Jan. 4 when he was already having fever, spasms and other symptoms of tetanus,” she said.

The boy died the following day at the Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital in Manila, she added.

Garin said the boy was lighting a piccolo when a small fragment of the firecracker landed on his right hand upon explosion.

However, the Department of Health (DOH) is investigating if the tetanus really came from the piccolo because the boy also had a wound in his foot, she added.

It was not immediately known when he was injured.

The boy is the second fatality during the New Year revelry. The first to die was a 45-year-old man who hugged a lit Goodbye Philippines firecracker last Dec. 31 during a drunken stupor.

Garin said the risk of developing infection from firecracker-related wounds or burns is high because firecrackers are made of dirty materials.

It is important for a person to get anti-tetanus shots within 24 hours after suffering wounds or burns, even minor ones, she added.

Yesterday, the DOH closed its surveillance for firecrackers, stray bullets and fireworks ingestion which started on Dec. 21, 2015.

It had documented a total of 929 cases, eight percent higher than last year.