DOH Monitoring Two Suspected Instances of H1N1 Virus in Cebu, Southern Philippines

6 May 2009

The Department of Health in Cebu has placed under quarantine two persons after they exhibited signs of possible contained by the inluenza A(H1N1) virus.

The first instance is that of a man who came back from Ireland with his wife, transiting through Hongkong. He registered a fever and was visibly weak.  His wife went along with him for the quarantine.  

The second instance is a British woman who reportedly went to the hospital voluntarily after she began to experience flu symptoms. She's been in Cebu for quite a while and had been to Mexico with her husband before that. 

Both patients are under observation at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.

Respiratory swab samples taken from the patients have been sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Manila to determine if they are H1N1 infected. 

Interviewed early today at Unang Balita by GMA 7's Arnold Clavio,  DOH Secretary  Francisco Duque III said they'll try to have the test results, which normally come out after 24 to 48 hours, and said that they'll try to have it before the day is over. 

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This is the related video clip from ABS-CBN by kyte.tv.  It appears from this report by Jing Castañeda that the RITM can only test for H1N1 infection by deduction meaning that if the flu is not the regular influenza A or B strains, they can deduce or infer that the infection is probably A(H1N1):

You will also note that part of the report deals with Leslie Carr, the British businessman presently quarantined at the Metro Park Hotel in Hongkong with some three hundred others. He is the feature of two of my posts so far.  With him at the Metro Park are three Pinoys who are also kept under the same conditions in what is by now undoubtedly the biggest H1N1 quarantine facility in the world.

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