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Friday, March 28, 2003
Davao officials monitoring suspected SARS case
By Stella A. Estremera
DAVAO -- Health officials in Region 11 are closely coordinating with a private hospital in Davao City following a suspected case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a viral pneumonia epidemic that has already been reported in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada.
But Department of Health (DOH) 11 Director Dolores Castillo said they are just making sure that precautionary measures are taken to isolate the patient until doctors are able to thoroughly assess what it is she is afflicted with.
"Actually, ang nangyari dumating nga siya from Singapore nung March 13 yata at pumunta ng Malaybalay (Bukidnon). Ngayon babalik na siya ng Singapore kailangan niya nga clearance kasi may cough and fever siya so pumunta siya dito sa Davao for a check-up and clearance para makabalik siya ng Singapore," Castillo explained in a telephone interview Thursday night.
(What happened was she arrived in the country from Singapore last March 13 and went to Malaybalay in Bukidnon. She is planning on going back to Singapore but needed clearance. She has cough and fever so she came to Davao for a check-up.)
"Nung winork-up nung hospital ang history niya at nakita nga na galing Singapore ini-isolate kaagad," she added. (When the hospital was working out her history, it was found out she was from Singapore so she was immediately isolated.)
Castillo said the update she has been getting from the doctors attending to the patient is it appears the woman is suffering from an ailment that is bacterial in nature.
"Up and about naman daw yung patient at walang shortness of breath, pero ganun pa rin hindi natin alam hangga't hindi ma-validate," she said. (The patient is still active, she does not experience shortness of breath but still we won't know until we validate for sure what she is afflicted with.)
She added there is nothing wrong with being on the safe side; thus, attending doctors have been advised to ensure precautionary measures, such as wearing masks and gloves.
She added that the DOH 11 epidemiology team is already attending to the patient.
"All these are precautionary measures lang habang bine-verify pa ang condition ng pasyente (while we verify the condition of the patient)," she said.
Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit has been contacted and informed by the hospital about the case and he has advised officials to keep a close watch on the patient.
As soon as they received the report about the suspected atypical pneumonia, Castillo said the health office immediately coordinated with Dr. Gerardo Cunanan, chief of hospital of the Davao Medical Center (DMC).
The hospital has already set aside a room for suspected SARS cases.
Health authorities are also trying to trace the patient's recent movements and identify the people she has been in contact with in Bukidnon so it will be easy to gather and isolate them if it turns out she is positive of SARS.
SARS has so far killed over 50 people worldwide and has already afflicted 487.
Of the fatalities, one was a Filipina domestic helper, Adela Dalingay, who died recently in Hong Kong.
Just this week, Singapore enforced quarantine measures and confined 740 of its citizens to their homes to contain the virus.
It also closed all its schools last March 26 for the city's half-a-million children.
Hong Kong has likewise suspended classes in around 50 of its 2,000 schools to help stop the spread of SARS.
In Manila, Health Secretary Dayrit appealed to residents who are flying in from abroad to go on a "self-imposed quarantine" for at least seven days "because the incubation period of SARS is two to seven days."
"By doing this voluntary domestic quarantine, I think we will reduce the possibility of spreading (the disease), and also it will assure our citizens that those who have traveled abroad are actually looking out for the symptoms of the disease," Dayrit was quoted by national newspapers as saying.
Symptoms of the disease are high fever, coughing, difficulty breathing matched with recent travel to the areas with reported cases of SARS within seven days of the onset of the symptoms. Sun.Star Davao |
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