Five persons monitored for MERS-CoV

CEBU, Philippines -  The Department of Health is closely monitoring five people based in Cebu and Bohol who were in the same flight as the Filipina nurse suspected of contracting the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus (MERS-CoV).

The Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the Department of Health-7 oversees monitoring.

“Two of them are from Bohol while three are from Cebu. Two are male and the rest are female,” RESU-7 chief Rennan Cimafranca said. One of the five is a minor.

He stressed that all five are asymptomatic, which means none of them have showed signs of MERS-CoV.

The five were identified and located by the DOH central office based on the flight manifest obtained from the airline carrying the Saudi-Manila passengers.

“The central office contacted them (passengers) first. After identifying the location, they reached the regional offices to pick the passengers up to be tested in our referral hospitals,” Cimafranca said.

Four of them are confined at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Me-dical Center in Cebu City while one is confined at the Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital in Tagbilaran City, Bohol.

“One from Bohol opted to be admitted here in Cebu,” he said.

Those admitted at VSMMC are placed inside a negative-pressure room under round-the-clock monitoring while the one in Bohol is in a private room.

Symptoms of MERS-CoV include flulike manifestations like fever, chills, rhinorrhea, fatigue, and myalgias.

The respiratory symptoms include shortness of breath and dyspnea while the gastrointestinal ones include anorexia, nausea, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Severe cases lead to renal failure and even multiple organ failure.

Cimafranca said they will only discharge the five passengers only if they test negative.

Specimens have been sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

The nurse has tested negative of the disease. — /JMO (FREEMAN)