Manda: Fil-Am in Korea not a SARS case

An 80-year-old Filipino-American confined in a hospital in South Korea is suffering from pneumonia, and not Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

General manager Edgardo Manda of the Manila International Airport Authority said yesterday the information was relayed to him by South Korean authorities.

Manda said the Filipino-American, who was identified only as D.I., had stayed in the Philippines for about two weeks before enplaning to South Korea on his way home to the United States.

"When he left Manila, he either had no fever or he lied about it," he told reporters during a press conference at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City.

Manda said it was unlikely that D.I. had SARS because he did not show any symptoms of the disease for two weeks and he was able to travel.

Upon arriving in Seoul, South Korea, D.I. was detected to be suffering from high fever and was immediately confined and quarantined, he added.

A doctor at the Department of Health said D.I., who comes from Isabela, had contacts with people in Cagayan Valley during his travel to his hometown.

Dr. Consortia Quizon, health department chief epidemiologist, said they have already alerted the Regional Epidemiologist Surveillance Units in Region 2 to get in touch with people in Cagayan Valley, who could have come into contact with D.I.

"He stayed somewhere in Region 2 for 15 days before he presumably went back to San Francisco in the United States via Seoul recently," she said.