Update 24: H1N1 cases hit 861 as 25 kids test positive in Nasugbu

By Sheila Crisostomo PHILIPPINE STAR



MANILA, Philippines – The country’s total count for Influenza A(H1N1) infections rose to 861 yesterday after 134 new cases were reported, the Department of Health (DOH) said.

Twenty-five children in Nasugbu, Batangas have tested positive for the virus.

But Health Secretary Francisco Duque III assured the public that all of the new cases are “mild” and they “are responding positively to treatment.”

The number of patients who have been cured, on the other hand, was placed at 634.

Duque said that of the 134 new cases, 118 were Filipinos while 20 have traveled to countries with confirmed cases of A(H1N1). 

The youngest patient is two years old while the oldest is 58.

The DOH also released yesterday the revised guidelines on how to shift the A(H1N1) response system from containment to mitigation. This was done in consultation with the World Health Organization (WHO).

Duque explained that they decided to shift strategy because A(H1N1), as is the case worldwide, is “mild in nature” and most patients recover even before they start receiving medication. “This mitigation strategy will be implemented by area, where there is a community level transmission. We will be focusing on the seriously ill and those with pre-disposing illnesses,” he said.

Duque was referring to those with diabetes, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorders, asthma, tuberculosis, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cancer and complicated pregnancy and those who underwent organ transplant and who are above 60 years old and below five years old and with weak resistance. Under the new guidelines, anti-viral Oseltamivir will be given to confirmed cases with “severe progressive illness” and with “pre-existing or concurrent medical conditions that compromise the immune system or pulmonary functions.”

The DOH will also implement “selective laboratory confirmatory testing” to maximize the A(H1N1) test kits being imported from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other countries.

Confirmatory test will only be administered on the first suspect case in a specific area or community; when doing random sampling of persons with influenza-like illnesses manifesting unusual symptoms or severity and suspected cases at high risk of developing complications.

The guidelines said that no laboratory follow-up tests are necessary prior to discharge.

In the old policy, infected patients are tested again before they are sent home.
It also stated that routine contact tracing will be conducted only to document first- and second-generation transmission in the communities or specific areas with no previous cases.

The DOH intends to promote “voluntary home confinement” among suspected cases unless they are in the high-risk category.

The guidelines showed that “a great majority of probable and confirmed cases are for home care.”

This pertains to those with stable clinical manifestations or those identified when they were in the recovery stage of illness.

“Hospital admission criteria include those manifesting respiratory difficulty, progressively acute illness and debility and others belonging to risk groups,” the guidelines further said.

Latest patients

Twenty-five children in Batangas ranging in age from 10 months to 13 years have tested positive for the A(H1N1) virus in an emergency medical check-up conducted on students in a village in Nasugbu town last Saturday, a health official said yesterday.

Dr. Myron Duque, officer-in-charge of the Batangas Provincial Health Office, said they conducted a swab test on 27 students of Banilad Elementary School and residents of Barangay Banilad, and 25 of them turned out to be positive for the virus.

Duque said they suspended classes in the school and instructed all those infected to stay home and take medication.

Duque said the virus could have been acquired by one of the student’s father who arrived in the Philippines last week from Texas.

“So far, we have already tested 81 people all over Batangas province since last month and only 30 people turned out to be positive,” Duque said.