|
Friday, May 16, 2003
10 Sars suspects still monitored in RP -- DOH
By Harley F. Palangchao
AT LEAST 10 persons declared as Sars suspects are still confined in isolation in various hospitals in the country but some are expected to be discharged before the World Health Organization (WHO) strikes the Philippines off the list of countries with 'medium level risk' of Sars on May 20, a health official said yesterday.
Dr. Antonio Baustista, chief of the Disease Control and Prevention Division of the Department of Health (DOH-CAR), told reporters that most of these Sars suspects are confined at the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM).
Among those still confined in isolation at the RITM are the mother and brother of Adela Catalon, the first Sars fatality in the country.
Three of Catalon's relatives, who were also quarantined at the RITM for two weeks, were discharged from the RITM on Monday and were amiably welcomed back by residents of Vacante, Alcala, Pangasinan, reports said.
Meanwhile, Bautista claimed that Baguio and the rest of the region are still Sars-free even with recent reports of admission of several suspected Sars carriers at the Baguio General Hospital.
Four persons - three overseas Filipino workers and a female Indian missionary - were confined in isolation at the Contagious Disease Pavilion of BGHMC, after showing some symptoms of Sars, but were all discharged after they were declared Sars-free later.
Over the weekend, Baguio officials led by Vice Mayor Betty Lourdes Tabanda marched down along Session Road and Magsaysay Avenue to iterate that the city remains Sars-free.
Bautista claimed that the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit, led by Dr. Cecilia Brillantes, was very effective in stopping the possible local transmission of the virus by the five persons, who were monitored to have had contacts with Catalon when she was then in Baguio looking for a hospital that would treat her father, who was then suffering from cancer.
"The local anti-Sars task force was very effective in stopping the possible local transmission of the Sars virus because of its effective surveillance and monitoring with the help of the barangay officials," Bautista said.
Though Baguio was declared as Sars-free, DOH-CAR officials continue to tap members of the Baguio media in line with its massive information campaign about the killer atypical pneumonia.
Bautista, meanwhile, reported that as of Wednesday, the WHO reported that some 7,628 suspected Sars cases were monitored in 33 countries with 587 Sars-related deaths already recorded.
(May 16, 2003 issue)
Want Sun.Star news on your mobile phone? Click here.
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[ return
to top ]
[ home
]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
