MANILA - The Philippines has four new confirmed cases of influenza A (H1N1), bringing the total cases in the country to 33, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said Friday.

One of the four new cases is a 17-year-old male student of the De La Salle University (DLSU) who may have been infected by the two Japanese students of DLSU.

The student does not have a history of travel to countries with confirmed cases of H1N1. He manifested symptoms on June 2 and consulted a doctor on June 3 in response to the health advisory of DLSU officials.

“The three DLSU cases are responding well to their treatments and do not even have fever anymore, including the latest case. Contact tracing though is still in progress,” Duque said.

The first case in DLSU, a 21-year-old female student, arrived in the Philippines on May 12. She reported flu-like symptoms on May 29 and was tested on May 31. Her positive result was reported June 3.

The DLSU campus along Taft Avenue in Manila is closed for 10 days, or from June 4 until June 14, to avoid the virus from spreading to other students.

Three more

The Department of Health (DOH) said the three other cases all have a history of travel from the United States.

One of them is a 29-year-old female foreigner who arrived on June 1, and developed fever and cough shortly thereafter.

The DOH said two others are siblings, a 9-year old and a 7 year-old, both females, who arrived in the country on June 3.

They got sick on June 1, were screened on arrival, and were subsequently brought to a health facility by the Bureau of Quarantine. 

All three are recovering from their illness in health facilities, the DOH said.

UST, FEU defer start of classes

Meanwhile, the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and Far Eastern University (FEU), both in Manila, declared that they are deferring the opening of classes next week to make sure that their faculty members and students are free of the H1N1 virus.

Advisories from the (UST) and (FEU) said they are deferring the opening of classes to June 15 and June 17, respectively, due to the A(H1N1) scare.

"As a precautionary measure against influenza A (H1N1) and in order to allow students, support staff, faculty members and administrators who arrived from travel abroad to voluntary quarantine, the University of Santo Tomas defers the opening of classes...," Father Isidro Abano, UST's secretary-general, said in the advisory.

Archbishop Miguel Carpio, vice-president for academic affairs of FEU, meanwhile, assured that the university is A(H1N1) free, "but FEU is taking the necessary preventive measures."

The Commission on Higher Education had set the opening of classes of colleges and universities on June 8. -- With a report from radio dzMM