40 students in Malabuyoc school have flu symptoms

CEBU, Philippines - Around 40 students in a public school in Malabuyoc town have reportedly developed flu-like symptoms suspected to be Influenza A (H1N1) based on the latest report received by the Department of Health Central Visayas Pandemic Influenza operation center.

Dr. Cora Lou Kintanar, DOH-7 Pandemic Influenza Incident Command spokeswoman said they received a call reporting that more than 40 students in one school have fever.

DOH-7 has not yet sent medical personnel to Malabuyoc yet because the Influenza response medical teams are still in Bogo and Daanbantayan checking on two private schools where several students reported manifested symptoms of the flu virus.

Kintanar said that they still have no idea which particular schools in Bogo and Daanbantayan the students suspected to have been infected with H1N1 are in because she has yet to get in touch with the medical team.

She has not received a call from their personnel and was not able to reach their phones probably due to poor network coverage.

Kintanar has instructed the teachers and principal of the school in Malabuyoc to get a medical technician, if possible, who can take swab samples of students with flu-like symptoms.

She said this would be better than to wait for their medical teams to go there as they are uncertain when they will be available.

Swab samples may then be sent immediately to the Polymerase Chain Reaction Laboratory of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center to be tested and have the results right away.

The PCR lab is now equipped to test and identify H1N1 strains with the arrival of the H1N1 primers.

 Kintanar said that they still do not know whether classes were suspended in schools of the three Northern Cebu towns with suspected cases of H1N1.

She however said that they will impose the same interim guidelines for schools that will have confirmed cases of H1N1.

As per the guidelines for schools, classes may not be suspended but children who will be confirmed positive will be sent home, made to rest, and treated until fully recovered.

Once they are fully recovered, that is the time that they will be allowed to join classes again.

DOH-7 has recorded 23 schools in the region that have been infected with H1N1. Most schools are in Metro Cebu. The number of H1N1 cases recorded in Central Visayas has reached 348.

Kintanar has confirmed that the virus spreading in the region is not anymore a seasonal flu because of how the virus spreads in schools and even in a detention center.

She however stressed that this is something not worth panicking over because H1N1 is just similar to the normal flu, except that if a person infected has pre-existing conditions these may be exacerbated by the virus and cause death.

 DOH said that H1N1 can be prevented if the public will practice proper hygiene and will take care of their health to boost their immune system.

Kintanar also assured that DOH-7 can provide enough medicine or Oseltamivir for those who will be tested positive of the flu. She however clarified that they prioritize H1N1 patients with pre-existing conditions to be given the medications for free. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/BRP (THE FREEMAN)