OFW from HK dies in Leyte

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) seems to be widening its foothold in the country as anxious residents in Eastern Samar reported another probable death from the killer virus yesterday.

A Filipino worker from Hong Kong, who arrived last April 10, died yesterday afternoon at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) in Tacloban City, Leyte.

Reports said that the unidentified victim was a native of Maydolong town in Eastern Samar and was first confined at a private clinic in Borongan on April 18. She was transfered to EVRMC only yesterday morning after her condition worsened.

Her attending physician, Doctor Nerio C. Sabulao who owns the N Sabulao Clinic in Borongan, is now also confined at the EVMRC after manifesting known SARS symptoms like high-grade fever and difficulty breathing.

Health officials insisted that the two cases were not SARS.

The clinic in Borongan has been closed and its personnel quarantined.

Other relatives and people close to the victim are being monitored by a SARS team dispatched by the Department of Health in Region 8.

Aside from Dr. Sabulao, reports said another suspected SARS patient from Maasin, Southern Leyte is confined at EVMRC, prompting hospital personnel to request surgical masks for protection.

Ligaya Anacta Acosta, information officer of the DOH in Eastern Visayas, said the agency is working closely with international agencies such as the World Health Organization and the US Center for Disease Control.

As this developed, the first suspected SARS case in Nueva Ecija, a five-year-old boy in Barangay Keysiwan in San Antonio town, was rushed to the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila yesterday.

The boy, Erwin Tumale, arrived last April 12 from Toronto, Canada, STAR sources said.

San Antonio Mayor Jose Salonga has sent a team of doctors to Keysiwan to impose preventive measures against the spread of SARS in the area.

However, residents of the town and neighboring areas fear a possible cover-up on the case as local officials have yet to come up with preliminary findings regarding Tumale.

Though the town has been restive since the news of the first SARS case in the province broke out on Tuesday, municipal officials refused to release an official statement pending the medical report being prepared by Dr. Elena Tomas, municipal health officer.

More suspected SARS cases are also coming out. A municipal employee who requested not to be identified, said that another possible SARS case is being monitored in Barangay Tikiw. Provincial information officer Bien de Castro added that a pre-school kid is also suspected of exhibiting SARS-related symptoms in the Science City of Muñoz.

Local health officials, though, have yet to confirm the reports.

Caution urged

As the SARS scare is spreading in many parts of the country, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople cautioned health officials not to create panic by mistakenly increasing the number of victims.

"Let us be considerate of the families of victims. We should be certain of the accuracy of information," Ople urged, though he said he does not doubt the threat posed by SARS.

On a positive note, the constant companion of Adela Catalon, the 46-year-old nursing attendant from Canada who died of SARS recently, was discharged from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City after recovering from high fever.

Rebecca Corpuz was from San Manuel town in Tarlac and also an overseas worker in Canada. She and her child were given SARS clearance by the DOH.

Three more SARS suspects under quarantine in RITM will likely be given a clean bill of health when their 14-day isolation period ends tomorrow, RITM director Dr. Remigio Olveda said.

"It seems there will be no problem here. They are all doing well," he told The STAR in a telephone interview.

Meanwhile, the X-ray technician who attended to Catalon at the San Lazaro Hospital remains under quarantine. Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said that she was already suffering from fever when she performed the chest x-ray on Catalon.

Reports said the technician did not wear goggles when she attended to Catalon, exposing her eyes to mucus that could have been discharged by the patient and making her vulnerable to the killer virus.

Because of this, Dayrit disclosed that health workers assisting suspected SARS carriers would be trained even more about precautionary practices.

In a related development, the Filipino doctor in Canada who was reported to have died of SARS is alive, the Philippine consulate general in Toronto said.

Acting head of the consulate Edgar Badajos said that the brother of the doctor confirmed to him that the doctor is alive though still under intensive care in Sunnybrook Hospital.

In a related development, food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said yesterday it is adopting several precautionary measures to contribute to the government efforts to maintain the country free of the SARS virus.

In a statement, SMC said an intensive information campaign for SMC employees across its plants and offices nationwide on have to prevent SARS is now ongoing.

All SMC employees have been issued respiratroy masks for use during office hours and in public places. They are also urged to undergo body temperature checks similar to those used at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. — With Benjie Villa, Sheila Crisostomo