Zambo City's 1st A(H1N1) case from Ateneo
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 07/02/2009 4:52 PM
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Zamboanga City's first confirmed case of influenza A(H1N1) virus case is a nine-year-old male pupil of Ateneo de Zamboanga University, a health official announced Thursday.
Dr. Norvie Taruc, head of the regional epidemiology surveillance unit, said in a press conference that the boy had contact with a relative, who also tested positive for the new influenza virus in Manila last month.
University president Father Antonio Moreno said the boy has already recovered from the infection and is already back in school.
The official said the family of the boy reported his condition and went on a voluntary self quarantine on June 22. The boy's throat swab result was confirmed only on Wednesday night, Moreno said.
Taruc, meanwhile, said there was no need to suspend classes at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University because the boy had already recovered from the disease.
University health officials are now conducting "contract tracing" on people, who might had contact with the boy while he was infected with the virus.
Moreno said the school is meeting with parents of the boy's classmates and other people who had possible contact with the boy.
In its July 1 update, the Department of Health (DOH) said the Philippines has had a total of 1,709 cases of influenza A(H1N1) since May 1. It said there was no cause for alarm because 86 percent or 1,485 of the confirmed cases have already recovered from the illness.
The remaining 224 patients (14 percent of total) are still under treatment at present, most of them under home management, the DOH said.
Only one A(H1N1)-related death has been recorded so far.
The DOH is also monitoring the case of a five-month-old patient, the youngest victim of the virus so far.
"All cases exhibited mild symptoms with the most common as fever, cough, and nasal congestion," Duque said.
"The ages of cases range from 5 months to 79 years old, with 18 years old as median age. Most of them belonged to the 10-19 years age group (831 cases). Majority of the cases were male (894 cases)," Duque described.
Duque disclosed that of the 1,709 reported cases, 1,568 (92 percent) were Filipinos; the rest were American (with 17), Japanese (8), Chinese (4), Korean (3), German (2), and one each from Australia, Canada, India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Sweden, Thailand, and Turkey.
"Two hundred eighty-five had history of travel to a country which has reported A (H1N1) cases. Most came from the USA, China, Japan and Singapore," Duque noted.
Most of the cases come from Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Eastern Visayas and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon).
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