3 more swine-flu cases reported in Cordillera

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY – Health authorities here said a 13-year-old foreigner, who was the first confirmed case of the dreaded swine flu in the Cordillera, was released after repeat throat swab samples tested negative of the disease at the Regional Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM).

This developed as the Center for Health Development in the Cordillera confirmed three more cases of the swine flu caused by the A (H1N1) virus.

The three patients are 15-year old girl, 65-year-old woman, and 72-year-old woman. The three new cases brought the number of cases undergoing observation in the region to 21.

But Dr. Myrna Cabatoje, Cordillera CHD director, said the first case had still to undergo a five-day medical treatment to make sure that he would be immune from the disease. The second case is 20-year-old Filipino man. The results on the tests conducted on him are still being awaited.

The cases undergoing observation have records of travelling to countries with confirmed cases of H1N1 virus.

Some of them have contact with two Taiwanese nationals who attended a wedding ceremony in Zambales and found infected with the disease when they returned to Taiwan a few days later.

Since last May 22, 21 cases of the dreaded virus have been reported in three provinces of the Cordillera, and two of them were found positive of the disease.

Cabotaje said the two confirmed cases in the region were in the same gathering in Zambales, where the two Taiwanese nationals were also present.

A Department of Health (DoH) report stated that two companions of the first case and four colleagues of the second case tested negative of the virus.
The companions of the two cases were also in the same gathering in Zambales and stayed in the same house.

The DoH official said that of the 21 cases, two were confirmed cases, 11 tested negative, and eight others, including the three new suspected cases, were still awaiting the results of the laboratory tests conducted on results at RITM