Filipina nurse is first case of MERS-CoV disease – DOH
The country is no longer free from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) after it registered the first case of the respiratory disease yesterday, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
In a press conference, Health undersecretary Nemesio Gako confirmed that the infected patient is a 32-year- old Filipina nurse, who worked in a hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
She arrived last February 1 on board Saudi Flight 860 that landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 with 224 passengers on board.
President Aquino has ordered the health department to ensure that all the necessary preventive measures are undertaken.
Gako said the nurse who flew in with her husband tested positive on all three MERS-CoV verification procedures and is now confined at a negative pressure room at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa where she is undergoing treatment.
Her husband is also undergoing tests in the same medical facility.
“As of now, the patient is in a stable condition,” Gako said.
Health Spokesman Lydon Lee Suy said the nurse will stay at the RITM until she completely
recovers from the disease.
The DoH is still confirming how the nurse got the MERS-CoV in Saudi.
“According to her, she did not have any contact with any case of MERS-CoV back there in Saudi. But she is working in a health facility, meaning there is a chance she got it there,” Lee Suy explained.
Last year, two OFWs who arrived from the Middle East were diagnosed with MERs-CoV after undergoing tests in their host countries. Both patients, however, tested negative of the disease after their arrival in the Philippines.
The DoH said the nurse did not manifest any MERS-CoV symptom the reason why she was able to pass through the NAIA thermal scan.
It was only a day after did the symptoms manifest when she underwent medical check-up due to occasional cough and a fever. She was referred to the RITM last Tuesday to undergo MERS-CoV testing,
when flu-like symptoms persisted.
Contact tracing
Gako said DOH is now coordinating with other government agencies to track down the 224 other passengers of Saudia Flight 860 and the kin of the infected nurse so they could undergo MERS-CoV testing.
“Contact tracing of other passengers is also being done. Experts, however, say that the possibility of other passengers on the plane being infected is low,” Gako added.
Lee Suy appealed to the people, who have close contact with the MERS-CoV patient, to voluntarily isolate themselves in their homes and coordinate with DOH by calling its emergency hotlines at 711-1001 or 711-1002.
He said they expect people, who might be infected to manifest symptoms by the end of the week.
“Like we said before, the incubation period (for MERS-CoV) is 14 days. It is Feb. 11 now. That gives us four more days until they manifest symptoms so we are doing all our efforts for the remaining days to look for them,” Lee Suy said.
“After Feb. 16 or 14 days after exposure, we will presume they are safe and there’s no problem as far as those on board (the Flight 860) is concerned,” he added.
World Health Organization (WHO) country representative Julie Hall lauded the response of the DOH and said they will provide the necessary technical support to the government to deal with its MERS-CoV case.
She also disclosed WHO obtained some of the biological specimens of the patient so it could be sent to their facility in Hong Kong for analysis and verification.
“We thank the government for informing us early on this and their willingness to share the samples for collaboration is very important as part of the global effort to end MERS-CoV,” Hall said.
As of Jan., WHO said MERS-CoV has infected 965 people and killed 357 others worldwide. (With reports from Madel Sabater Namit and Ariel Fernandez)