Adela’s niece in Alcala watched for possible SARS symptoms

Health authorities are keeping a close watch on a 27-year-old niece of Canada-based nursing aide Adela Catalon, who died in a government hospital on April 14 after contracting SARS in Toronto, Ontario.

The Department of Health is closely monitoring "JC" for symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) after she manifested a fever while under quarantine at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

RITM director Dr. Remigio Olveda said JC developed a recurring fever over the last few days while in the RITM isolation room.

"She is being strictly monitored by our doctors because of mild fever," he said. "The last three days she has had a low-grade fever, but, this morning, she had no fever."

Olveda added that JC’s highest recorded fever was 38.3 degrees Celsius.

According to the United States’ Centers for Disease Control (CDC), SARS usually begins with fevers of 38 degrees Celsius or higher. The fever is sometimes accompanied by chills, headaches, a general feeling of discomfort and body aches.

Olveda said JC had the longest exposure to Adela and her father Mauricio, who also died of SARS at a government hospital last week.

Mauricio had colon cancer and died of bronchopneumonia on April 22. An autopsy of his remains showed he had was infected by the coronavirus which causes SARS.

Adela and Mauricio are the first recorded SARS fatalities in the country. The first recorded SARS case was that of a German who shuttled between Manila and Hong Kong. He recovered from the infection after treatment at RITM. The fourth SARS case is a former maid from Eastern Samar who returned from Hong Kong.

Olveda said Mauricio’s body will only brought to his home in Barangay Vacante in Alcala, Pangasinan from RITM for burial after April 30.

Meanwhile, the DOH lifted the quarantine on Barangay Vacante yesterday except for four households of 26 people who have been ordered to remain under quarantine until Wednesday.

Pangasinan provincial health officer Dr. Nemesia Mejia and other DOH officials were on their way to Barangay Vacante to announce the good news.

These are the homes of persons who had close contact with the Catalons, identified only as Cynthia, Yolly, Kapitana and Corpuz.

The entire Barangay Vacante had been under quarantine since April 14, the day Adela died.

Dr. Yadao Baldomero, Adela’s third cousin who also resides in Vacante, said the lifting of quarantine was "okay, but there is no difference in the attitude of the people."

People are still afraid to go to the barangay, including deliverymen who provide the community with fish, vegetables, pork and other daily needs, she said.

In Baguio City, a female worker who arrived here from Dubai via Bangkok, Thailand on April 22 was admitted to the Baguio General Hospital (BGH) early yesterday morning and was placed under strict and isolated monitoring for SARS symptoms.

Dr. Antonio Bautista of the DOH-Cordillera Disease Prevention and Control Division said the worker complained of coughing and having difficulty breathing but is not yet a confirmed or suspected SARS case.

In Tarlac province, over 20 days have passed since Adela attended a wedding and its reception in the towns of Ramos and Moncada and there were no "official" SARS cases reported anywhere in the province. — With Eva Visperas, Artemio Dumlao, Benjie Villa and John Paul Jubelag