MANILA – Swine flu or the A(H1N1) virus poses a threat to about 23 million Filipinos, or 25 percent of the country’s total population of 90 million, a ranking official of the Department of Health warned.
Dr. Lydon Lee Suy, the chief of the health department’s Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme, aired the warning during a hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Health on the impact of the highly-infectious disease on the country and the people.
Lee Suy said he based his “scary†projection on the way the disease has been spreading at an alarming rate.
Lee Suy added the 25 percent attack rate by the virus was the one observed by the World Health Organization (WHO) based on its spread worldwide as he explained:
“Twenty five percent of the population could be affected by H1N1. Basing it on the attack rate, if you have 90 million people, 25 percent of the total will be expecting that the virus could hit them.â€
However, he clarified that the 25 percent rate was just a possibility and that such a big chunk of the population may not actually be infected.
In the same hearing, Lee Suy was supported by Dr. Vito Roque, the head of the surveillance unit of the health department’s National Epidemiological Center, who acknowledged that the current trend of the virus is steadily increasing as evidenced by the day-to-day monitoring of cases.
Lee Suy and Vito likewise testified that based on the trend of the spread of the virus, in which cases jumped to more than 400 since May, the number of patients would probably breach the 1,000-mark.
But the two health officials assured that the virus afflicting the country is of the “mild†variety, saying that 80 percent of the more than 400 patients have already recovered or are on their way to recovery.
On Tuesday, Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd disclosed that 28 more confirmed cases have been reported for the past 24 hours, bringing to 473 the total number of people infected by the virus.
Ironically, Duque also confirmed that the country’s first fatality related to the swine flu virus worked for one of the House committees and that another employee of the chamber had tested positive of the disease.
Nevertheless, Duque cited autopsy findings that the virus was not entirely to blame for the death because the victim was also suffering from serious ailments involving the heart and the liver.
As a result, Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr. suspended work at the House until June 28 to enable health and related personnel to “sanitize†the place and thus, prevent the spread of the disease.
Members of the House and the Senate observed a month-long break starting June 3 and are to resume session on July 25.
While on recess, a total of 20 pro-administration House members, including their spouses and children, have joined President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her party in her eight-day visit to Japan and Brazil and are expected to return to Manila on June 25.
For this reason, a bipartisan group of congressmen on Tuesday urged the President and her party to each observe self-quarantine for at least 10 days upon their return, saying that they visited Japan and Brazil which have also been afflicted by the virus.
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