Pinay tests negative for MERS

THE FILIPINA companion of the country’s second case of the Middle East respiratory syndrome-corona virus (MERS-CoV) is free of the disease but specialists will continue to closely monitor her condition until the end of the 14-day incubation period next week, according to a health official.

The woman was admitted to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), along with the infected foreigner, on Saturday after developing a cough, one of the symptoms of MERS-CoV.

“She tested negative for the virus so she can already be transferred from the negative pressure room to a regular room but we will continue to observe her because the 14-day incubation period has not yet ended,” said Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, spokesperson of the Department of Health.

The 14-day incubation period for the woman will end on July 16. Calculations started from the day the 36-year-old index patient started showing symptoms of the disease (fever and cough) on July 2.

The foreigner flew in from Dubai sometime in June, after making a short stopover in Saudi Arabia, where the virus was first reported in April 2012.

Health Secretary Janette Garin said on Monday that the tourist had also visited another country, which she declined to reveal, during the 14-day incubation period since his arrival from the Middle East.

Lee Suy said the DOH has confined its contact-tracing of passengers of the latest flight that the index patient took to those who sat near him since the 14-day observation period will end on July 9.

Garin earlier said the health department was tracking down roughly 200 passengers of that flight.

“We are just calling up those who sat within three rows front, back and side of the index patient. We know already the seating arrangement,” said Lee Suy.

Meanwhile, eight other persons who had close contact with the index patient who are on home quarantine have continued to be asymptomatic, he said.

Basic precaution

“But we will still monitor them for 14 days (until July 16) because they might suddenly develop symptoms of the virus,” he said.

Infectious disease experts yesterday said that most hospitals in the country are capable of handling and treating MERS-CoV.

Dr. Rontgene Solante, former president of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, said all hospitals have basic standard precautions instituted to handle such common infectious diseases like the flu.

These standard precautions may be enough to deal with MERS-CoV, a less-transmissible but deadlier cousin of the SARS virus, said Solante, who heads the San Lazaro Hospital’s infection control committee.

“There are hospitals [that are] saying that they are not ready to handle MERS-CoV cases. But they should be ready based on their capability,” he told a health forum in Quezon City yesterday.

“They should institute the basic and important measures in the prevention and the treatment of these patients,” he added.

According to Solante, hospi- tals, particularly those with limited facilities, can improvise in the absence of negative pressure rooms. They can use regular rooms in a secluded area of the hospital to effectively treat an infected patient, he said.

He said this was doable provided that doctors and medical staff designated to handle MERS-CoV cases had the necessary expertise and are equipped with the basic personal protective equipment—an N95 mask, gloves, impermeable gown, goggles and shoe cover.

Dr. Arthur Dessi Roman, vice president of the Philippine Hospital Infection Control Society, also told the forum that in general, hospitals in the Philippines can handle MERS-CoV cases.