DOH issues new school guidelines on A(H1N1)
MANILA, Philippines – In response to the shutdown of around 40 schools and the death of a 49-year-old Filipino woman due to A(H1N1) infections, the Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday drew up a revised response level guide for schools.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the revised guidelines (Interim Guidelines No. 18) were arrived at in consultation with officials from the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education.
Like in the earlier guideline, a school that reports its first confirmed A(H1N1) virus infection can still suspend classes for 10 days under Response Level 3.
A Response Level 3 is raised when there is a confirmed case in school but without any community level transmission.
But in the new guideline, the DOH said that schools no longer have to defer classes again if new cases continue to be reported after the lifting of the suspension.
Duque said all the schools have to do is send the infected students, faculty, or non-teaching staff home for self-quarantine and let them recover from the illness before accepting them back to class.
"The likelihood that transmission has occurred prior to the occurrence of symptoms and laboratory testing is high. Thus, the emphasis of infection management should be shifted to individual patient care," the DOH said in its revised guidelines.
It also said that in case the flu situation in the country gets elevated to a Response Level 4 – or when there is a confirmed community level transmission – schools need not suspend classes.
An exception is when there is "unusually severe illness or clinical manifestation" and there is a "large number of simultaneously ill students and/or school staff."
A sustained community level transmission happens when there are cases of fourth generation transmission and the index case – or the person who originally spread the virus in an area – can no longer be traced, the DOH said.
The DOH has so far said that only "low-level community outbreaks" have so far been declared in a number of areas Manila, Parañaque, Makati, and Quezon City.
Duque said a low-level community outbreak is so-called when there are "confirmed cases without having any major clustering" and there cases of third generation transmission.
The number of A(H1N1) cases in the Philippines has swelled up to 604, after the DOH listed 131 additional Influenza A(H1N1) cases Wednesday.
The World Health Organization said there are 55,867 cases and 238 deaths around the world as of Wednesday.
LGUs
Meanwhile, Secretary Ronaldo Puno of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Thursday issued a circular directing local government officials to closely monitor the health conditions of their personnel.
Puno said he does not see the need for the government to go from one house to another to check for possible infected individuals, adding there not enough supply of mouth swab testing kits.
Instead, Puno urged the people including village officials to visit their respective rural health units for a checkup. He assured that local officials found positive for the virus would be given free medical services.
Prices of the anti-viral drug used to cure the symptoms of A(H1N1) have skyrocketed amid the flu scare, prompting the Department of Health to coordinate with the Department of Trade and Industry to address the matter. (See: DOH eyes measures to bring down rising Tamiflu prices) - GMANews.TV
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the revised guidelines (Interim Guidelines No. 18) were arrived at in consultation with officials from the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education.
Like in the earlier guideline, a school that reports its first confirmed A(H1N1) virus infection can still suspend classes for 10 days under Response Level 3.
A Response Level 3 is raised when there is a confirmed case in school but without any community level transmission.
Since the De La Salle University registered the first identified student victim of the A(H1N1) on June 3, some 40 others schools have also reported similar confirmed flu cases. (Data from GMA News Research as of June 24, 2009)
Duque said all the schools have to do is send the infected students, faculty, or non-teaching staff home for self-quarantine and let them recover from the illness before accepting them back to class.
"The likelihood that transmission has occurred prior to the occurrence of symptoms and laboratory testing is high. Thus, the emphasis of infection management should be shifted to individual patient care," the DOH said in its revised guidelines.
It also said that in case the flu situation in the country gets elevated to a Response Level 4 – or when there is a confirmed community level transmission – schools need not suspend classes.
An exception is when there is "unusually severe illness or clinical manifestation" and there is a "large number of simultaneously ill students and/or school staff."
A sustained community level transmission happens when there are cases of fourth generation transmission and the index case – or the person who originally spread the virus in an area – can no longer be traced, the DOH said.
The DOH has so far said that only "low-level community outbreaks" have so far been declared in a number of areas Manila, Parañaque, Makati, and Quezon City.
Duque said a low-level community outbreak is so-called when there are "confirmed cases without having any major clustering" and there cases of third generation transmission.
The number of A(H1N1) cases in the Philippines has swelled up to 604, after the DOH listed 131 additional Influenza A(H1N1) cases Wednesday.
The World Health Organization said there are 55,867 cases and 238 deaths around the world as of Wednesday.
LGUs
Meanwhile, Secretary Ronaldo Puno of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Thursday issued a circular directing local government officials to closely monitor the health conditions of their personnel.
Puno said he does not see the need for the government to go from one house to another to check for possible infected individuals, adding there not enough supply of mouth swab testing kits.
Instead, Puno urged the people including village officials to visit their respective rural health units for a checkup. He assured that local officials found positive for the virus would be given free medical services.
Prices of the anti-viral drug used to cure the symptoms of A(H1N1) have skyrocketed amid the flu scare, prompting the Department of Health to coordinate with the Department of Trade and Industry to address the matter. (See: DOH eyes measures to bring down rising Tamiflu prices) - GMANews.TV
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