A “bright and bubbly” nine-year-old boy has died after being bitten by a mosquito while on a family holiday.
Glenn Pulgadas, from the small town of Harvey in Western Australia, was in the Philippines when he picked up dengue fever and tragically died on August 25.
The St Anne’s School pupil was with his parents Glenn and Ryza visiting extended family when he was bitten by the mosquito and began feeling ill on August 12 leading him to be taken to hospital.
After showing symptoms including a headache, fever, vomiting and nose bleeds he went into dengue shock syndrome and suffered organ failure while in intensive care.
It has come as a terrible shock for the small local community in Harvey.
“Glenn was a bright, bubbly, young boy who was so full of life and always had a smile on his face,” said family friend Danielle Zarzycki, reported news.com.au.
While Fr Jess Navarra told 7NEWS the boy was “very lively, very outgoing, always smiling and laughing” while adding that “being a small town we felt the impact right away.”
Another family friend reportedly said: “All of us are very sad. Glenn is not a friend for us, we treat him as our own son.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family pay for the funeral costs.
It stated: “Glenn was a beautiful year three student at St Anne’s School here in Harvey. He, with his family, travelled to the Philippines to spend time with his extended family.
"Unfortunately Glenn became unwell and sadly passed away earlier this week.
"As a community we would like to support his Mum and Dad with medical and funeral costs.
"Glenn was a bright, bubbly, young boy who was so full of life and always had a smile on his face.
"Anything you could donate would be greatly appreciated and will be a massive help to his family at this unfortunate time.”
Dengue fever is spread by mosquito bites with three out of four people not even becoming sick from the disease.
Infections though have risen markedly, more than doubling over the past ten years, with more than five million cases, according to the World Health Organisation.
“There is a vaccine, but at present, it is only administered in 20 countries of the world where the disease is extremely endemic,” Curtin University international health expert Jaya Dantas told 7NEWS.
“You need to actually wear clothes where you won’t get bitten on the extremities, sleep under a mosquito net at all times, use a mosquito coil.”
