DoH confirms first A(H1N1) case in RP

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Just an FYI. Take extra care guys.

DoH confirms first A(H1N1) case in RP
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By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net

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Posted date: May 21, 2009
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MANILA, Philippines-(UPDATE) The Department of Health (DoH) confirmed the first case of A(H1N1) influenza in the country Thursday night.
"The DoH confirms today the first case of A(H1N1) in the Philippines. She is a female traveler who arrived in the country on May 18 from the United States, whose throat specimen tested positive based on results from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine," Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a press conference at the World Health Organization Regional office in Manila.

According to Dr. Eric Tayag, director for the National Epidemiology Center, the first case is a 10-year-old female, who also visited Canada when she was in the United States.

Tayag declined to identify the research facility where the girl is being quarantined and treated.

"I talked with the president and from the tone of her voice she is very concerned. In fact, she gave me the go signal to conduct this press conference," Duque added.

The patient is currently being monitored while her immediate household was advised to follow quarantine and social distancing procedures from the DoH, said Duque.

Despite the index case, Duque said: "There is no community outbreak in the country, measures are being done to prevent transmission including quarantine of immediate household of the first case. The first case is something we have been preparing for and a result of public and private sectors' effective surveillance system."

Health Undersecretary Mario Villaverde said the test results came Thursday afternoon from RITM in Muntinlupa City and the patient was immediately given antiviral Oseltamivir. The first case no longer has fever and cough but still has sore throat, said Villaverde.

Tayag said specimens from the index case will be sent to a WHO collaborating center in Melbourne as routine procedure for all specimens that will test positive for the novel A(H1N1).

"The child developed the symptoms a day after arrival, so this is also a call for vigilance on the part of the public that people in the country and incoming travelers from abroad, especially from infected areas, to submit themselves to quarantine screening and continuous monitoring of health, especially body temperature for 10 days, and to report to the DoH any flu-like symptoms," said Villaverde.

Villaverde reiterated that the public should observe proper hygiene, strengthen resistance and do social distancing-avoid going to crowded areas if the need is not urgent.

At this point of one single confirmed case, Vilaverde said, there is no need to postpone the opening of schools in June.
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and i here the joker saying "here we go"

i knew that it was just time before h1n1 got here, but its good to see that doh is vigilant about this, just remember the symptoms

travel to affected country and now exposure to suspect/confirmed case plus
fever, sore throat, cough
plus all the usual constitutional symptoms associated with flu
 
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taking lots of vitamins and hand sanitizers would help, mom even bought boxes of face mask last month, shes serious.......
 
Stay healthy, keep hygiene standard high and don't be complacent when travelling, this illness is inevitable as globalisation is there, a lot of peopletravelling to and from those affected areas. Some of us working here requires a lot of travelling, you don't know when will it hit you. It's actuallybetter when you get it in your tip top health condition and you recover, than you didn't get it at all. Getting the said virus and fully recover from itmakes you more immune to other flu strain in the future.
 
I hope & pray that this would never initiate an epidemic to the country. And as always, prevention is far better than cure...
 
respirators and dust masks will make a killing again in the market. i remember the SARS scare a few years back, N95 respirators were being sold at ridiculousprices above SRP.

keep safe everyone.
 
[h1]DOH: No A(H1N1) outbreak yet; recorded cases now at 33[/h1]source: gmanewstv

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Health is not yet keen on declaring a community outbreak despite almost daily confirmations of newA(H1N1) infections (now 33) in the country.

"As yet, there is no community-level outbreak of A(H1N1) as the Department of Health and local government units have been able to contain (the spread ofthe virus)," said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III in a press conference Friday.

Dr. Eric Tayag of the Health department's National Epidemiology Center said a community-level outbreak only occurs if authorities can no longer determinethe source of the virus' transmission.

Four more people were confirmed infected Friday with the novel virus Friday, raising to 33 the total number of infections.

Duque said the new cases are two siblings (ages 9 and 11), another student of the De La Salle University (third case in the school), and one who arrived in thecountry last Monday.

As people scramble to get tested for the virus as the "first indication" appears, Doque said only those who would qualify as case under observation(CUO) would be tested and would receive treatment for free.

Since May 1, 2009 the DOH has recorded 450 possible cases of the novel virus, of which 33 are confirmed infected, 76 are awaiting laboratory tests results,while 341 people have been discharged. As of 5 June, 36 new cases are under observation, Duque said.

In a telephone interview with GMANews.TV earlier in the day, Tayag said 14 of those originally infected with the virus have been cured and discharged fromhospitals.

Even though the rest of those infected with the virus are responding well to treatment, Tayag said the public must continue to take precautionary measuresagainst the malady, which has already afflicted more than 19, 000 people in 66 countries.

Those infected in the Philippines had shown "mild" symptoms, Tayag said, adding that the public could do best by observing good personal hygiene andto report possible indications of the disease to Health authorities.

"Any 'over-reaction' is acceptable at this time, if only to alert people, kasi 90 million tayo. 'Over-reaction' should reach all 90million people so that they will know what to do," Tayag said when asked whether there has been an over-reaction to the spread of the novel flu.

He said he doesn't believe the government has overreacted because all the steps it has done so far were "according to plan."

The De La Salle University suspended classes from June 4 to 14 after two cases of A(H1N1) infection were confirmed there Thursday.

Although the mortality rate of those infected with A(H1N1) around the world is less than one percent, Tayag said people should be on guard because, unlike themore deadly dengue fever, A(H1N1) is transmitted from people to people.

"Most countries around the world mild lang talaga sa ngayon kasi everybody's trying to contain it," he said, adding that no one is immune fromthe disease because A(H1N1) is a new flu stain.

Tayag said the DOH has not been disclosing the identities or nationalities of the people infected with the disease upon the request of their families. He saidthe agency is also not keen on publicizing where the patients were taken to avoid undue panic and possible avoidance of these areas.

"Papano kung nasaksak ka, e di mamimili ka pa [ng ospital]. Kasi pag nalaman nilang nandiyan, iiwasan [What if someone was stabbed, he might choose thehospital he'll go to. When people know someone infected is in a certain hospital, they tend to avoid it]," he said, lamenting the seeming aversion to the La Salle area.
 
rumors in our school ( csb, in front of DLSU ) thats theres one student who got swine flu.
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Bad tripp.... na-move na ung pasok nmin... sa 17 na pasukan which is supposed to be 10.... as a precautionary measure...
 
dengue has a higher mortality rate than swine flu. even news are hyped these days
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it is a mild disease imo as a doctor, SARS was way deadlier before and ppl die from dengue everyday, the good thing out of this is that the ppl become morehygiene conscious. better safe than sorry!
 
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