DOH alarmed at possible SARS case

Doctors of the Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) will talk with hospital officials in Hong Kong to find out the medical background of an overseas Filipino worker suspected to be suffering from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Dr. Troy Gepta, an epidemiologist at the DOH, said they wanted to know if the woman, who is confined in a government hospital in the Ilocos Region, was afflicted with the killer disease while she was in Hong Kong.

"With the help of WHO, the DOH will coordinate with the officials of the hospital or hospitals in Hong Kong where she was admitted," he said.

"We want to know her background so we can asses if she was really at risk of being infected with SARS."

Gepte said the DOH wants to know what caused the illness of the patient, who was reported to be suffering from cancer of the brain.

"Actually she had limited contacts," he said. "But just the same, we advised her contacts to undergo home confinement and to observe the symptoms on themselves."

DOH regional epidemiologisy Dr. Revelyn Cayabyab said the suspected SARS victim is from Bayambang, Pangasinan. The victim has been transferred to the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, she said.

The DOH had already coordinated with people who are known to have come in contact with the patient as a precaution to prevent the spread of SARS in the country, Gepte said.

The DOH has been on the lookout for people at risk of getting the disease to keep the SARS-free status accorded by the WHO to the Philippines last May 21.

The country was included in the WHO’s SARS list after 74-year-old Mauricio Catalon infected three relatives and two health workers before he died of SARS last April 22.

He got the disease from his daughter, Adela Catalon, a Canada-based nurse’s aide, who died of SARS on April 14.

As a policy, the WHO strikes off a country from the list after passing a required 20-day "no-infection window."

The DOH and the Department of the Interior and Local Government also monitor returning OFWs to find out if they show any symptoms of SARS. – Sheila Crisostomo, Vic Alhambra Jr.