Swine Flu Virus

RP remains 'swine' flu-free: 3 of 5 travelers cleared of virus.

Three of the five travelers suffering from flu-like symptoms - a Filipino and two South Korean children - were cleared of the deadly Influenza A (H1N1) virus by the Philippine Department of Health (DOH).

DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III on Thursday said hospital officials found no trace of the virus on the three quarantined patients who arrived in Cebu province days ago.

This was confirmed by Dr. Yolanda Oliveros, director of the DOH's National Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

She said the results of the laboratory test conducted by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) on the Koreans showed that they did not contract the deadly virus, which has so far killed 29 in Mexico, and two in the US.

Also, the 32-year-old Filipino male patient under observation at the Vicente Sotto Medical Center (VSMMC) was also cleared by the RITM, according to Oliveros.

“Three of those five under observation in Vicente Sotto and in RITM were all negative so we expect them to be discharged," Oliveros said.

The two other patients, the 26-year-old Dutch woman confined at the VSMMC and the 29-year-old Filipino male quarantined at the San Lazaro Hospital remain under close observation.

“The female patient from Cebu we’re still waiting for the specimen to be brought to RITM but were expecting the results to be out within the day for the male at San Lazaro," Oliveros said.

Oliveros remains optimistic that the two will also be declared free from the virus.

Last Wednesday, Duque reported that the DOH placed 10 individuals under quarantine after they showed symptoms similar to that of A-H1N1 infection.

But only five of the 10 were put under close watch because of flu-like symptoms such as fever, coughing and sneezing.

The DOH said it was already tracking down the people that the five patients had been in contact with since they arrived in the country. The wife of one of the quarantined Filipinos was not brought to the hospital because unlike her husband, she did not develop fever.

Duque said it takes about five to seven days before symptoms of A-H1N1 show up. Infected victims only have three to five days to live before they succumb to the virus.

Nonetheless, there is no cause for alarm because the Philippines remains free of the influenza virus, according to Duque. "There is no reason to panic. We don’t have any case of A H1N1."

A cure has yet to be concocted against the A-H1N1, but American scientists vowed that before end of May, they would be able to produce medicine that can cure the disease.

Health officials were jolted anew after recent findings showed that there had already been reports of third-generation contraction of the new type of viral strain – a mixture of human, swine, and the North American swine flu viruses.

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