DOH assures public RP still free from H1N1 virus

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines remains free from the Influenza A(H1N1) virus despite the increase in the number of travelers kept under observation for possible infection, the Department of Health (DOH) reiterated yesterday.

“The DOH will continue to intensify its surveillance in ports, airports and community so that cases are detected early and appropriate control measures are implemented immediately,” said DOH Assistant Secretary Nemesio Gako.

DOH records showed that eight more travelers are under observation after manifesting fever, a symptom of A(H1N1). This brings to 46 the number of patients suspected of having the virus, but most of them were eventually cleared.

According to DOH Undersecretary Mario Villaverde, one of the eight patients – a 14-year-old female traveler from the US – had turned out negative for the virus. 

He noted that the results of the laboratory tests on the seven others are “still pending.”

The youngest of the seven patients is a three-year-old girl from Japan while the oldest is a 69-year-old foreign woman who came from the US.

The rest are a 47-year-old Filipino male from China; a 27-year-old female foreigner from Australia; a 26-year-old Filipino woman from the US; a 38-year-old Filipino woman from US and a 44-year-old foreign male from the US.

Villaverde said the DOH would start distributing anti-Influenza A(H1N1) medicine to regional offices nationwide to ensure that they are prepared in case of an epidemic.

He added that each office stands to receive 5,000 capsules of the anti-viral drug Oseltamivir.

Oseltamivir will also be given to doctors, nurses and other health workers who will handle infected patients.

“Our target is to stockpile some one million capsules of Oseltamivir before the end of the month. But with the donations that we are expecting from Unilab anytime this week, our stockpiles will increase to some 950,000 capsules. We’ll have enough (in case of an epidemic),” he said.

Infected patients will have to take two capsules everyday for five days but Oseltamivir must be given on the second day or once the symptoms of A(H1N1) come out.

Health professionals, on the other hand, must take a capsule for 10 days to fight off the virus.

Villaverde had advised the public to observe a healthy lifestyle to strengthen their immune system to ward off the virus. 

“Get enough sleep, eat nutritional food and drink lots of fluids like water and fruit juices that are rich in Vitamin C. Avoid stress because it could weaken our immune system,” he added. 

Throat swab samples are being collected from patients and examined by the DOH-run Research Institute for Tropical Medicines (RITM) in Alabang.

The RITM now has the capability to validate the positive findings with the arrival of the H1N1 testing kits donated by Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control (CDC). 

Without these testing kits, the DOH had to send its findings to Japan, Australia and the US for confirmation. The kits are good for 300 patients.

World Health Organization (WHO) records showed that as of May 12, the number of confirmed A(H1N1) cases in 30 countries had reached 5,251.