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Wednesday, April 30, 2003
4 contacts of probable Sars case 'isolated'
By Harley Palangchao
BAGUIO -- Health officials in Baguio City immediately isolated Tuesday four persons who had contact with the 21-year-old female Indian missionary presently confined at the Contagious Disease Pavilion of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center for probable Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) infection.
Dr. Cecilia Brillantes, head of the Epedimiology and Surveillance Unit of the Baguio Health Department, told Sun.Star they also launched a contact-tracing procedure for the around 30 passengers who traveled with the probable Sars case in an air-conditioned bus on their way to Baguio late Saturday afternoon.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Brillantes said that her office has not yet established the identities of the bus passengers.
She claimed the assigned BHD sanitary inspector has not yet submitted a report about his meeting with the management of the bus company.
Health officials still refused to mention the specific time that the particular air-conditioned bus left Metro Manila or arrived in Baguio, vital information in determining the co-passengers of the suspected Sars carrier.
Brillantes claimed they are still waiting for the go-signal of Mayor Bernardo Vergara on whether the BHD and the Department of Health in the Cordilleras can publicly announce the time of arrival and name of the bus company.
The suspected Sars patient was immediately wheeled into the BGHMC Contagious Disease Pavilion after health official declared that she is a potential carrier of the dreaded Corona virus.
Dr. Julius Alcala, head of the Epidemilogy and Surveillance Unit of the DOH-CAR, in an earlier interview on Monday confirmed that the Indian missionary is indeed a Sars suspect because she is suffering from cough and fever, two critical symptoms of the disease.
The x-ray of the Indian national, however, showed that the patient is negative for pneumonia. But Brillantes said the condition of the patient could get worse. She did not elaborate.
The female Indian national, according to health officials, stayed in Bangkok from March 11 to April 25, before she arrived in Manila on Saturday, April 26.
Prior to her arrival in the country, she also had conducted missionary work in Cambodia, Thailand and India.
Baguio officials are mulling the passage of an ordinance requiring all foreigners to undergo a medical or physical check-up especially if they came from Sars-stricken countries. Sun.Star Baguio
(April 30, 2003 issue)
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