‘Recovered SARS cases need 2 weeks home confinement’

The Department of Health (DOH) has advised patients recovered from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) to go on a two-week home confinement after being released from quarantine.

The DOH is extending the observation period for treated SARS patients because of the possibility they may suffer a relapse.

DOH epidemiologist Dr. Troy Gepte said the advisory was issued yesterday on the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO).

"After being discharged from the hospital, (SARS patients) are weak, so we need to really be sure (there won’t be any risk of) re-infection or relapse," Gepte said at a forum at the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City.

"Re-infection is the possibility that the patient will again come down with the illness, so we need a longer period of time to observe them," he said.

According to the DOH official SARS advisory, home confinement "is when a person stays at home avoiding any personal contact with household and non-household members for 14 days. This home confinement also means that his/her body temperature is taken twice a day with the use of the common thermometer." Normal body temperature is up to 37.5 degrees Centigrade.

If a person’s body temperature is higher than normal, the DOH advisory said, "it means he/she has a fever, which may indicate SARS."

In this case, the patient "should wear (a) mask and should be put in isolation at once. He/she should also be brought immediately to San Lazaro Hospital (SLH in Manila), the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM in Alabang, Muntinlupa City) or any DOH regional hospital nearest them."

Gepte said the SARS virus is excreted through urine and stools and a treated patient may not have recovered fully during this period.

It would "be prudent," he said, for those who recovered from SARS to undergo home confinement so they can be properly monitored by the DOH.

SARS relapse cases were first reported in Hong Kong, but it was found that these relapses were not SARS re-infection — they were other ailments. Nevertheless, the WHO is investigating these reported relapses.

The Philippines has so far recorded nine suspected SARS cases, and seven full-blown SARS cases.

The seven SARS patients are being monitored by the RITM and SLH.

Six of these SARS patients were contacts of Canada-based nursing aide Adela Catalon and her father Mauricio, the first two SARS fatalities in the Philippines.

The seventh SARS patient is a still-unidentified Filipino worker from Hong Kong.

Gepte said the six Catalon contacts being treated for SARS include Adela’s brother Ricardo and his 27-year-old daughter Jennifer. Adela’s brother-in-law, who drive for her after she arrived on April 4, is not one of the SARS patients.

Gepte said the seven SARS patients have a 90 percent chance of recovering in a week because their pneumonia has begun to wane.

He said the DOH was able to quarantine the people who came in contact with the SARS patients, so there is no threat that SARS will spread in the Catalons’ hometown of Barangay Vacante, Alcala town in Pangasinan.

"Vietnam is not a high-tech county, but it has been able to make the people comply with infection control measures," Gepte said. "Vietnam was delisted by WHO (from the list of SARS-affected areas) and we want to do the same."

WHO is expected to remove the Philippines from the list of SARS-affected countries by May 20 if no new SARS infections from the Catalons surface, Health Secretary and SARS crisis manager Manuel Dayrit said.

Meanwhile, President Arroyo is determined to continue government efforts to obtain a "SARS-free clearance" from the WHO.

The President said the Philippines has shown its "unrelenting" efforts and the effectiveness of the government’s all-out nationwide campaign to stop the entry and spread of SARS.

The Chief Executive reiterated this in her speech yesterday at the National Cathedral of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente on Taft Avenue in Manila, where she led the oath-taking rites of the new board of trustees of the Bishop Gregorio Labayan Aglipay Foundation Inc.

"The effectiveness of our effort against SARS is proven and unrelenting," Mrs. Arroyo said. "I commend all those involved in this valiant fight, including our health authorities and workers, local leaders and communities and, most of all, our vigilant public."

"With transparency, combined with compassion, superior coordination and solidarity, we will defeat this menace," she said.

"I would like our people to remain calm, but fully alert. Review the preventive measures prescribed by the health department and religiously observe these," she said.