Valenzuela reports first A(H1N1) case

MANILA, Philippines – The Valenzuela City government reported yesterday that one of its residents, a doctor working for a private hospital in Quezon City, tested positive for the A(H1N1) virus.

Dr. Jaime Exconde, Valenzuela City health officer, said that they learned about the case from city health epidemiologist Dr. Manuel Mapue “only this afternoon.”

“She is now in self-quarantine at their house and considering that she is a physician, she already knew what to do,” Exconde told The STAR.

Marither Menia, Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian’s public information officer, said the patient, a 30-year-old woman, has two children in grade school and is a resident of Fortune Village I in Barangay Gen. T. De Leon.

Menia said Gatchalian, upon receiving the report at past 3 p.m. yesterday, immediately ordered contact tracing of all household members of the patient, including persons she has close contact with, and to monitor their health condition.

“The mayor would like to tell the city residents not to panic, for we have been preparing for this and our city health officers already knew how to handle this,” Menia said.

Menia said the school of the patients’ two children were already advised about the case.

According to Exconde, the patient has no recent history of travel to other countries but was exposed to an influenza A(H1N1) patient last June 11 at the hospital where she is working.

“She had the exposure on June 11 from a patient, and on June 16, she had a mild fever, so she underwent throat swabbing and laboratory examination result showed she has the (H1N1) virus,” Exconde said.

Exconde said the quarantine period for the doctor and her two children, including other members of her family, would end on June 26.

Meanwhile, local officials cleared the Parañaque City National High School of any case of influenza A (H1N1).

Nelson Lacambra of the Parañaque City Media Bureau, said a recent update from city health officer Dr. Olga Virtusio stated that the four students who were earlier placed under observation tested negative of the said virus.

Earlier, it was reported that one of the three students, though free from any illness, was exposed to a relative who is a virus carrier. 

The three other students were shown to have contracted the common flu virus.

In Muntinlupa City, Mayor Aldrin San Pedro ordered the City Budget Office to look for available funds to purchase needed medicines that will help prevent the spread of the virus.

While there is no report of any case of the virus in the city, San Pedro said the unpredictable breakout of the illness must be immediately checked because the Department of Health designated the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Alabang as a special facility for A (H1N1) patients. – Pete Laude, Rhodina Villanueva