DOH: Japanese boy, 42-yr-old man taken for flu tests
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 05/20/2009 3:51 PM
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The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday said a Japanese boy and another foreigner have been quarantined in a hospital in Cebu province for showing flu-like symptoms.
The DOH said the two new cases under observation (CUO) include a five-year-old Japanese boy and a 42-year-old male, who both arrived from Japan.
Dr. Vito Roque of the DOH's National Epidemiology Center said the arrival of the two new CUOs brought the number of patients being quarantined for the deadly influenza to three.
Roque said the third patient was one of the three persons announced by DOH on Tuesday. He said that of the three patients, two have been cleared from the deadly virus.
An earlier report by ABS-CBN's regional news group in Iloilo said a 64-year-old "balikbayan" has also been taken for quarantine at a hospital in Iloilo City.
The DOH office in Iloilo City said the balikbayan has been confined to the Western Visayas Medical Center.
The regional health office said the lady balikbayan from California was healthy when she arrived in Aklan on May 16. The woman became ill and experienced high fever, abdonimal pain, and vomiting days after her arrival.
The health office said the woman's daughter, who is also a doctor of medicine, reported her mother's condition and brought her to hospital.
The result of her swab sample test will be released on Thursday, the health office said.
Nearly 10,000 cases
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon urged people to remain vigilant against swine flu as the number of cases around the world shot up to almost 10,000.
Previous pandemics had shown flu outbreaks could start mild and worsen, Ban said as he addressed the World Health Organisation's annual assembly in Geneva. "That is why the world must remain vigilant and alert to the warning signs."
The UN health agency said cases had soared by more than 1,000 since Monday with 9,830 infections now in 40 countries, including 79 deaths.
The WHO has so far resisted pressure to declare a full-fledged swine flu pandemic, but anxiety about the spread of the virus -- especially in Asia and the Americas -- is growing.
Japan reported 193 swine flu infections Tuesday and closed more than 4,000 schools, colleges and kindergartens for the rest of the week to slow the spread of the virus, officials said.
Ban held talks in Geneva with leaders of some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies on the development of a vaccine.
About 30 vaccine makers from 19 industralized and developing countries were invited by the WHO to the discussions, which officials said focused on the cost of the vaccine and its availability in the most vulnerable poor countries.
Ban told the WHO's assembly afterwards that partnerships with the private sector would be "absolutely vital".
"Solidarity in the face of this particular outbreak must mean that all have access to drugs and vaccines," he told the group's 193 member states. "It means that virus samples and data are shared."
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