DOH: No H1N1 outbreak despite rising number of cases

MANILA, Philippines – Health Secretary Francisco Duque III yesterday said despite the rising numbers of A(H1N1) cases, there is still no outbreak of the virus in the country.

Duque said one of the reasons for the rising number is the Department of Health’s (DOH) aggressive contact tracing and transparency in reporting the country’s A(H1N1) statistics.

“Even the World Health Organization had lauded our contact tracing and surveillance system. But it seems that by being transparent, that by doing our job, we’re being blamed by others. It’s really frustrating,” he told The STAR.

Duque emphasized that the virus is not highly fatal, unless an infected individuals has underlying conditions like diabetes, hypertension, chronic pulmonary disorders, asthma, cancer, tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus, among others.

In a related development, the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) urged the public to be “vigilant” over “advertisement or fraudulent sales, promotion and practices” of food supplements, vitamins, vaccines and other products that are supposedly against A(H1N1).

“It must be stressed that to date, there are no food supplements, vitamins or vaccines that cure or treat the virus,” BFAD said.

The bureau had warned manufacturers of these products that making such false claims constitute “outright violation” of Republic Act 7394 or the Consumer Act of the Philippines, BFAD Circular 2007-002 and Republic Act 3720 or the Food, Drugs and Cosmetic Act.

BFAD urged the public to report to the bureau any advertisement or promotional activities that violate these policies.

According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Pandemic Update, the Philippines now ranks 8th worldwide in terms of “laboratory-confirmed cases” of Influenza A(H1N1), overtaking Argentina and Japan.

The update states that the seven other countries with the greatest number of cases are the United States (33,902, 170 deaths); Mexico (10,262 cases, 119 deaths); Canada (7,983 cases, 25 deaths); the United Kingdom (7,447 cases, three deaths); Chile (7,376 cases, 14 deaths); Australia (4,568 cases, nine deaths); and China (1,814 cases, no death).

Completing the top 15 are Thailand (1,414 cases, 3 deaths); New Zealand (912 cases, no death); Singapore (878 cases, no death); Spain (760 cases, one death); and Brazil (737 cases, one death).

In the WHO’s prior Pandemic Update 56, released July 1, the Philippines had ranked 10th worldwide, just behind Argentina, China and Japan.

Since then, the Philippines had reported 848 cases, Argentina, none; China, 296 new cases; and Japan, 180 new cases. 

Pandemic continuity program

Meanwhile, Senator Richard Gordon reiterated his proposal to develop pandemic continuity programs for both government and private sectors to ensure that the whole nation is well-prepared and protected if and when deadlier diseases hit the country.

Gordon made the statement after an employee of the Senate tested positive for the virus.  

The employee, who is working at the Senate Economic Planning Office, has recovered from the sickness and has reported back to work.

“We now have a confirmed case of A(H1N1) in the Senate. There are also confirmed cases in Congress, in the Philippine Navy and even in the PNPA (Philippine National Police Academy). But we are still lucky that this strain of virus is not a strong one, otherwise, we would have a lot of fatalities because obviously we are not prepared,” he said.

The other day, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the Senate has procured thermal scanners to monitor people who may have symptoms of the virus.  

He also advised colleagues and Senate employees to drink calamansi juice to increase their resistance to A(H1N1).

But Gordon does not want to be complacent.

“Do we have a service continuity plan? We need that to keep vital government offices and businesses functioning should a deadlier pandemic reach the country. We must use the present situation to learn and understand what we have to do, plan and prepare, and then practice it,” Gordon said.

He stressed the need for both the public and private sectors to draft service and/or business continuity plans on how to keep their offices and factories functioning in the event that a stronger wave of flu pandemic enters the country.

The senator explained that if a deadlier contagious disease reaches the country and affects a much larger number of people, it could lead to government offices and businesses closing as employees fail to report for work.

“With a continuity program, we can take into account the impact of pandemics on the staffing of organizations during worst case scenarios when employees are unable to come to work,” Gordon said.

“Private and public offices should revise their personnel policies to account for pandemic risk cases as well as strengthening hygiene practices and adjusting provisions for health care. This, we must do now,” he added. – With Christina Mendez