Experts to meet on 2 possible local SARS cases

The panel of experts on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome will convene next week to discuss the condition of two suspected SARS cases in the country, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday.

Dr. Consorcia Quizon, head of the DOH’s National Epidemiology Center (NEC), said the two cases will be reviewed for SARS though they have not yet developed pneumonia, which is a determining criterion for diagnosing SARS.

"There is a low probability that they have SARS but, just the same, the panel will meet next week to review their x-ray. We want to make sure of their conditions," she said.

The panel was formed by the DOH to review suspected SARS cases and decide which ones are actually confirmed SARS patients.

The panel is composed of experts from the NEC, World Health Organization (WHO), Philippine College of Chest Physicians, Philippine Society of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, and Makati Medical Center.

One of two suspected SARS cases is "VM," a domestic helper from Hong Kong who is now undergoing quarantine at the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila.

The other SARS suspect is "MY," a computer parts assembler from Taiwan who was brought to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Alabang City for isolation.

Both 25 years old, the two patients came from the Ilocos region where they were monitored by DOH epidemiologists as suffering from fever, the initial symptom of SARS.

Hong Kong and Taiwan are among the countries hardest hit by SARS.

Quizon said that previous x-rays performed on the two SARS suspects showed they were suffering from upper respiratory tract infections, lowering the possibility that they have SARS.

"It’s like they have common cough and cold. They don’t have pneumonia. Aside from that, they have underlying diseases," she said.

VM has a brain tumor, while MY has a hearing problem.

Quizon said that health officials in Hong Kong assured the DOH that VM was not exposed to SARS patients when she was confined in a hospital there because she was in the neurology ward.

DOH is still waiting for a report from Taiwanese health authorities on MY’s medical background.

"We already got in touch with the people who came in contact with them here in the Philippines. We are doing the same in Taiwan and Hong Kong through our counterparts there," Quizon said.

The Philippines was stricken off the WHO’s list of SARS-affected countries last May 21 after the country did not report a locally transmitted SARS case for 20 consecutive days.

The country was included in the list after 74-year old Mauricio Catalon infected three relatives and two health workers with SARS.

Catalon contracted the infection from his daughter, nursing assistant Adela Catalon, who was infected by the mother of her roommate in Toronto, Canada. Catalon and his daughter died of SARS.