Pinay from HK, husband declared SARS-free

A woman hospitalized earlier for suspected SARS has been declared free of the pneumonia-like disease following tests carried out by the Department of Health (DOH), Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said yesterday.

Dayrit immediately lifted a quarantine on around 50 people who had been in contact with the 42-year-old Hong Kong-based Filipina domestic helper, identified only by the initials "MD," who fell ill during a Christmas vacation in her native Luisiana, Laguna.

The World Health Organization (WHO) also confirmed the woman was not suffering from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Results of the tests showed that while she was suffering from atypical pneumonia, it was caused by a bacterial infection.

"We suspected this (negative result) all along. But it was safer to be definite. The test is quite conclusive but polymerase chain reaction is going to be done for completeness," Dayrit told a hastily called press briefing.

MD was suspected of contracting SARS after developing fever and cough on Dec. 24, four days after she returned to the Philippines from Hong Hong.

Her husband also experienced similar symptoms, prompting health authorities at the Laguna Provincial Hospital to move them to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) DOH’s specialty hospital for SARS in Muntinlupa City.

MD’s condition has improved and she has had no fever for the past two days, Dayrit said, adding that she will remain confined at the RITM for at least another week while her husband can be discharged.

Epidemiologists traced 12 more people who had been in contact with the patient, bringing the total number of those exposed to her to 46. But none of them showed any symptoms of SARS.

Hospital workers and the woman’s friends and family who were placed in medical isolation will be allowed to return home.

"The country’s DOH and Hong Kong’s Ministry of Health are in close coordination and the re-classification of MD from a SARS suspect case to simply pneumonia will not mean that we will be leting our guard down. We will continue to be vigilant in ensuring that SARS does not enter into any part of our countries," Dayrit said.

WHO country representative Jean-Marc Olive praised Filipino authorities, telling reporters that the health scare proved that Asian countries were becoming more vigilant over the threat of SARS, which killed about 800 people in China, Hong Kong, and other countries last year.

Meanwhile, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Edgardo Manda yesterday assured the public that the airport authority is prepared against the possible entry of SARS.

"Our participation in preventing SARS from spreading starts here at the airport. We have enough scanners that can detect body temperature of arriving passengers," Manda told reporters.

Earlier, he announced that medical checks on passengers arriving from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore were being stepped up, and the MIAA ordered three more thermal scanners in addition to about a dozen already installed at the airport. — With Sandy Araneta, Marichu Villanueva, AFP