Japan says two children from RP have swine flu
TOKYO - Two children who last week flew to Japan from the Philippines have tested positive for swine flu since their arrival, Japanese officials said Wednesday.
The seven-year-old boy and his four-year-old sister live in the Philippines but have been in the central Japanese city of Shizuoka since last week, municipal officials said.
They arrived at Chubu international airport Friday with their parents -- a Japanese father and a Filipina mother -- and another sister. The nationalities of the infected children could not immediately be confirmed.
The boy was staying at his grandparents' home when he developed a fever on Monday, according to a spokesman of the city government. The girl became feverish late Tuesday.
Both have been confirmed to have the A(H1N1) virus, officials said.
Japan had confirmed more than 350 swine flu cases by early Wednesday, including eight people who had tested positive at Narita international airport near Tokyo, the health ministry said.
The Philippine Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday it is monitoring ten new suspected A(H1N1) infections in the country.
Eight of the patients are from the National Capital Region (NCR) while the other two are from the Ilocos region and Central Visayas, health officials said.
The DOH has so far monitored 113 individuals, and all but two tested positive for the H1N1 virus. The two confirmed cases are a 10-year-old girl and a 50-year-old female, both from the United States. The girl arrived in the country from the United States on May 18 while the 50-year-old arrived from Chicago two days later.