MERS-CoV watch 5 who reject quarantine face arrest

CEBU, Philippines - At least five passengers of the Etihad Airlines flight EY 424 from Abu Dhabi are being tracked down by the police and health officials in Central Visayas as possible carriers of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus or MERS-CoV.

One of the five remains unaccounted for while the four others, who initially agreed for swab sampling with the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the Department of Health, refused to be placed on quarantine.

 RESU-7 chief Renan Cimafranca said they were able to obtain nose and throat swabs from the four passengers of the monitored flight but later on encountered problem as these patients were no longer reachable after the sampling.

 â€œWe are trying to trace with the help of the police these four who initially agreed to submit for testing and isolation but only submitted to the specimen sampling and not isolation as initially agreed. They were listed on the manifest (of the monitored flight from Middle East). After the sampling, they could no longer be reached at the address that they provided,” Cimafranca said.

 These four were the ones mentioned by Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center chief of hospital, Dr. Gerardo Aquino, during the Tuesday briefing that were on their way to the DOH-run hospital.

 Cimafranca said that while they do not want a police arrest as much as possible, the Department Order No. 2014-001 issued by Health Secretary Ona states that DOH and law enforcement agencies “are enjoined to undertake measures to apprehend, detain/isolate or place under active or passive surveillance individuals who have been exposed to the MERS-CoV infection and considered as dangerous contact.”

 He said the order gives them the power, through the Philippine National Police, to take custody of suspected patients.

 Despite the central office naming those who have not been reached for testing and observation, Central Visayas health officials still opted not to name the untraced and even those who fled after testing.

 â€œWe will not resort to naming them. But definitely they are among the list released by Central Office,” Cimafranca said.

The DOH in Manila released at least 43 names of passengers who cannot be contacted and is posted on the DOH website.

 As of yesterday, Cimafranca noted a total of 25 individuals in Central Visayas under observation for MERS-CoV infection.Majority of them are from Cebu.

 According to Aquino, results of the first batch of six tested passengers were out between 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. last night. The results were not made available as of press time.

 Aquino said a special team was assigned to address the suspected MERS-CoV cases following the quarantine procedures as the H1N1 virus.

 Dr. Mari Leo Fidel Pataray of the emergency medicine department is leading the team that monitors the development of the quarantined patients at VSMMC.

“The team assigned at the isolation rooms is composed of five nurses, one institutional or utility worker, one internal medicine resident, and one pediatrics resident. So that’s eight staff for Team A. The second team is the backup which is composed of the same number of personnel,” team leader Pataray explained. — /FPL (FREEMAN)