No Swine Flu In Cebu, Briton negative of A H1N1 virus

CEBU, Philippines – The Caucasian woman, who voluntarily went to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) to have herself checked for the dreaded Influenza A H1N1 or swine flu virus is not infected.

The results of the tests conducted on the woman were released yesterday by the Department of Health.

She went to the hospital when she exhibited symptoms of infection.

The woman had traveled to Mexico, United Kingdom and Hong Kong, places that have cases of swine flu infection, before she came to Cebu.

She developed coughs and cold during her eighth day here, but since she is health conscious, she asked the VSMMC to check her just to be sure that she has not brought the virus to the country.

DOH-7 Assistant Regional Director Dr. Lakshmi Legaspi made public the results of the tests done in Manila from the throat swab of the patient.

Legaspi said that the 26-year old woman, a British national, could already be released from the hospital.

The woman has however been advised to remain cautious.

The second person, who was brought to the hospital with his wife after arriving in the airport on board a flight from Hong Kong and was detected with a fever, is still in the hospital.

Legaspi said that it takes 24 hours for the results to come out, but since they had a problem with the courier, the samples from the Caucasian was sent on Wednesday and the sample from the Filipino man was only sent yesterday.

She said that there is no problem with regards to taking the samples, but it is on the delivering of the swab samples to Manila.

DOH-7 Regional Director Susana Madarieta, has already come up with a new system of sending samples to Manila to make it more efficient.

Legaspi said they do not want the delay in the transport of specimen to happen again because time matters a lot in preventing the spread of this globally dreaded virus.

Legaspi said that as soon as the results will be out today, they will immediately notify the public.

Not Through Text

Legaspi said that they will be releasing the information through the media and not through text messages.

She made this clarification after she received a text message that has reportedly been passed around that there is a definite swine flu outbreak in Cebu.

Legaspi showed to us a text message she received which read “Swine Flu is confirmed in Cebu, be careful. Please spread the news to your loved ones.”

She assured that they have not issued the statement and they will not do any information dissemination through text.

No More Fever

Dr. Gerardo Aquino Jr., medical director of VSMMC said that the Overseas Filipino Worker from Ireland, who is now quarantined in their hospital, has no more fever and results of the Complete Blood Count test that they did showed bacterial infection.

Also, Aquino said that the patient said that he was dehydrated during the flight, which could have caused him to run a high temperature.

The wife of the man is also in quarantine but was not tested because she showed no symptoms of the flu but was asked to stay because she was with her husband the whole time.

Legaspi also asked the public to make use of their hotline if they are suffering from symptoms of the flu and not just for consultation.

Tighter Monitoring

The Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority officials has tightened their monitoring in support to the Bureau of Quarantine personnel in handling passengers showing symptoms of the swine flu infection, said MCIAA General Manager Danilo Francia.

Dr. Philvert Moga, head of the Bureau of Quarantine stationed at the Mactan airport said that they adopted contingency measures to deal with the swine flu menace following the announcement of World Health Organization.

WHO declaration raised the warning on swine flu to Alert Level 4, which means the disease can now be transmitted freely through human contact. – With Jose P. Sollano/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)