MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Seven new cases of swine flu confirmed Thursday brought to 29 the number of people sickened with the virus in the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
Among them is a 20-year-old Japanese graduate student who came into contact with a fellow Japanese exchange student at Manila's De La Salle University, DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III told reporters.
The exchange student tested positive 17 days after arriving in Manila on May 12, prompting the suspension of classes at La Salle for 10 days. The university has about 13,000 students.
The six other patients, including a 33-year-old pregnant woman, are Filipinos who recently visited the US, Duque said.
The World Health Organization has warned that pregnant women were particularly vulnerable to the virus.
Duque said all the cases in the Philippines showed only mild symptoms of the flu and 14 have already recovered and were sent home.
Reacting to a possible declaration by the WHO of a pandemic level 6, Duque said such a move should be made carefully and prudently by considering the severity of the disease, not just the geographic range of the virus.
"We do not want a disproportionately destructive global scare from a virus that has thus far only shown mild symptoms in most of the cases that we are seeing in affected countries," he said.
"We do not need this at a time of great economic crisis and uncertainty. But at the same time, we should not also underestimate the potential of the virus to become more severe in the future," he added.
According to WHO's pandemic criteria, the world is now in phase 5, meaning a global outbreak is imminent. To reach phase 6, the highest level, the agency's definition requires the spread of the disease in a region beyond North America.
The WHO says the disease has reached 66 countries and infected more than 19,000 people, causing 117 deaths.
The DOH also said it was looking into the case of a Filipino woman who tested positive for the virus shortly after arriving in Saudi Arabia where she works as a nurse, becoming the first swine flu case in that country.
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