2 confirmed cases of H1NI in Zambales
as 4 new H1N1 cases in R.P. confirmed
THERE are four new laboratory-confirmed Influenza A (H1N1) cases in the country, the Department of Health (DOH) reported on Wednesday.
From the two earlier cases confirmed to have the virus, the total went up to six, and the DOH head said they expected “more cases to come” in the next few weeks due to intensive contact-tracing, heightened awareness among the public, continuous international travel and the fact that the number of affected countries continues to increase.
“We are now on second-generation transmission beyond the index case,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told a news briefing at the DOH office in Tayuman.
The four new confirmed cases are two Filipino females, aged one and 26; and two Filipino males, aged 13 and 55.
The one-year-old baby girl arrived from the US on May 19 and was admitted to hospital on May 24; the 13-year-old boy arrived from Hong Kong on May 23 and developed flu symptoms on the same day.
Both the 26-year-old woman and 55-year-old man came from the wedding celebration in Zambales province where two Taiwanese wedding guests had earlier tested positive for the virus.
This makes them (the 26-year-old woman and 55-year-old man) the country’s first “second-generation transmission” cases—meaning, they have not traveled to an affected country but got the virus from an index case or someone who acquired the virus after having visited an affected country.
However, the National Epidemiology Center chief, Dr. Eric Tayag said all the four new confirmed cases are not in any serious condition.
As of Wednesday, the 13-year-old male had fully recovered while the rest still have either fever and cough or cough alone.
The first two confirmed cases—a 10-year-girl and a 50-year-old balikbayan woman from America-—have fully recovered and are awaiting discharge from hospital after their repeat laboratory test confirms that they indeed no longer have the virus.
“Efforts are being taken to complete contact-tracing and to place under quarantine those with known exposure to the confirmed cases. Those found ill will be brought to designated health facilities. The results of the monitoring will be shared with affected local governments once they are available so that further spread will be promptly prevented,” Duque said.
“We know their whereabouts from the time they got ill until the time they were transferred to a hospital,” said Tayag, as the DOH again refused to mention the general location of the new cases.
DOH said they were been preparing for this scenario, and thus expanded the referral hospitals from the original five, to include all 72 DOH-run hospitals around the country.
However, Duque said, “There is no cause for the public to panic. What is important is that anyone who has traveled to an affected country or has been exposed to a confirmed case and manifests symptoms like fever, cough or sore throat, [will] go to a doctor or call the DOH hotline 711-1001.”
He stressed that the case fatality ratio for the influenza A H1N1 is very low at less than 1 per 1,000 infected cases.
“And the global consensus is that the H1N1 is a mild form of influenza illness,” added Duque, who has just attended a World Health Organization conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
New flu case abroad came from RP?
A NEW case of A(H1N1) flu virus abroad was suspected to have contracted the infection from the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday.
Health Undersecretary Mario Villaverde said the department received a report that a Filipino-Japanese boy who left the Philippines was found infected with the flu virus when he reached Japan.
Villaverde also said the DOH is still waiting for details so they could start “contact tracing,” or checking the people who were with the boy when he was in the country. The boy left on May 22.
“We don’t know when he arrived,” Villaverde said. The DOH is also checking where the boy and his family stayed in the Philippines.
The Japanese Health department reported recently that two persons were found positive with the virus.
In Davao City, while the DOH cleared of the A(H1N1) flu virus the three patients admitted over the weekend at the Davao Medical Center (DMC) for high or recurring fever, two new flu cases were admitted on Wednesday in the hospital, said Romeo Huertas, OIC spokesman of the regional Center for Health Development office.
The result of the laboratory test from the three patients showed they were negative of the A(H1N1) virus. The Regional Institute of Tropical Medicine in Alabang, Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, relayed the result through e-mail, Huertas told the BusinessMirror.
The three patients were recommended for release after their fever has subsided.
In the Cordillera, the DOH-Cordillera Administrative Region cleared three of the four suspected cases of the virus after the results of their laboratory test from RITM said they are tested negative.
The three patients are well and no longer have any symptoms, the DOH said, while the test result of one more case is not yet available. Written by Sara Fabunan & Imelda Abaño - Business Mirror Correspondents
THERE are four new laboratory-confirmed Influenza A (H1N1) cases in the country, the Department of Health (DOH) reported on Wednesday.
From the two earlier cases confirmed to have the virus, the total went up to six, and the DOH head said they expected “more cases to come” in the next few weeks due to intensive contact-tracing, heightened awareness among the public, continuous international travel and the fact that the number of affected countries continues to increase.
“We are now on second-generation transmission beyond the index case,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told a news briefing at the DOH office in Tayuman.
The four new confirmed cases are two Filipino females, aged one and 26; and two Filipino males, aged 13 and 55.
The one-year-old baby girl arrived from the US on May 19 and was admitted to hospital on May 24; the 13-year-old boy arrived from Hong Kong on May 23 and developed flu symptoms on the same day.
Both the 26-year-old woman and 55-year-old man came from the wedding celebration in Zambales province where two Taiwanese wedding guests had earlier tested positive for the virus.
This makes them (the 26-year-old woman and 55-year-old man) the country’s first “second-generation transmission” cases—meaning, they have not traveled to an affected country but got the virus from an index case or someone who acquired the virus after having visited an affected country.
However, the National Epidemiology Center chief, Dr. Eric Tayag said all the four new confirmed cases are not in any serious condition.
As of Wednesday, the 13-year-old male had fully recovered while the rest still have either fever and cough or cough alone.
The first two confirmed cases—a 10-year-girl and a 50-year-old balikbayan woman from America-—have fully recovered and are awaiting discharge from hospital after their repeat laboratory test confirms that they indeed no longer have the virus.
“Efforts are being taken to complete contact-tracing and to place under quarantine those with known exposure to the confirmed cases. Those found ill will be brought to designated health facilities. The results of the monitoring will be shared with affected local governments once they are available so that further spread will be promptly prevented,” Duque said.
“We know their whereabouts from the time they got ill until the time they were transferred to a hospital,” said Tayag, as the DOH again refused to mention the general location of the new cases.
DOH said they were been preparing for this scenario, and thus expanded the referral hospitals from the original five, to include all 72 DOH-run hospitals around the country.
However, Duque said, “There is no cause for the public to panic. What is important is that anyone who has traveled to an affected country or has been exposed to a confirmed case and manifests symptoms like fever, cough or sore throat, [will] go to a doctor or call the DOH hotline 711-1001.”
He stressed that the case fatality ratio for the influenza A H1N1 is very low at less than 1 per 1,000 infected cases.
“And the global consensus is that the H1N1 is a mild form of influenza illness,” added Duque, who has just attended a World Health Organization conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
New flu case abroad came from RP?
A NEW case of A(H1N1) flu virus abroad was suspected to have contracted the infection from the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday.
Health Undersecretary Mario Villaverde said the department received a report that a Filipino-Japanese boy who left the Philippines was found infected with the flu virus when he reached Japan.
Villaverde also said the DOH is still waiting for details so they could start “contact tracing,” or checking the people who were with the boy when he was in the country. The boy left on May 22.
“We don’t know when he arrived,” Villaverde said. The DOH is also checking where the boy and his family stayed in the Philippines.
The Japanese Health department reported recently that two persons were found positive with the virus.
In Davao City, while the DOH cleared of the A(H1N1) flu virus the three patients admitted over the weekend at the Davao Medical Center (DMC) for high or recurring fever, two new flu cases were admitted on Wednesday in the hospital, said Romeo Huertas, OIC spokesman of the regional Center for Health Development office.
The result of the laboratory test from the three patients showed they were negative of the A(H1N1) virus. The Regional Institute of Tropical Medicine in Alabang, Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, relayed the result through e-mail, Huertas told the BusinessMirror.
The three patients were recommended for release after their fever has subsided.
In the Cordillera, the DOH-Cordillera Administrative Region cleared three of the four suspected cases of the virus after the results of their laboratory test from RITM said they are tested negative.
The three patients are well and no longer have any symptoms, the DOH said, while the test result of one more case is not yet available. Written by Sara Fabunan & Imelda Abaño - Business Mirror Correspondents
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
6:34 AM
1 Comments:
eto na naman tayo..sympre magpapahuli ang DOH ng pagkuha ng flu vaccine once available in 2-3 months. hantayin muna nuang dumami ang case..para marami ang makurakot..mga buwsit.
By
Anonymous, at 6/17/2009 8:25 AM
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