Filipinos join hands vs swine flu

MANILA, Philippines—Churchmen announced the holding of religious processions and special Masses, students trooped back to schools with bottles of alcohol in their bags and guards in some colleges carried thermometers to check temperatures, as Filipinos joined hands in a battle against the swine flu virus.

As some 5 million youths poured back into public and private schools with the end of summer, student nurses in charge of taking temperatures in a Lucena City school made sure no one got in without an “OK” stamped on the wrist.

Soldiers in military camps joined in the fight by shunning handshakes and limiting their greetings to mere salutes.

Citing its vulnerability to transients, especially foreigners, the city government at the Makati financial district passed an ordinance setting aside P10 million for the purchase of surgical masks, hand sanitizers and other items to help fight the menace of the Influenza A(H1N1) virus.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) said colleges and universities opened on Monday “without any problems” despite the steady increase in the number of confirmed swine flu cases in the country.

“The schools had ample time to prepare,” CHEd Executive Director Julito Vitriolo said.
In Naga City, processions and Masses will be held from Tuesday until Thursday to be led by Caceres Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legaspi.

“This year’s processions and Masses [will be] held to ask for God’s mercy [so that] the community [will be] spared from the influenza pandemic and other illnesses,” Legaspi said.
Legaspi encouraged everyone to participate in the processions to venerate the image of the Divino Rostro (Holy Face of Jesus).

"Swine Flu Virus awakens Bayanihan spirit among Filipinos."

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Flu scares and realities

I DON’T think the local media would be content until someone in the country actually dies from A(H1N1) Swine flu.

Amid reports of new cases, with news that the Philippines currently has the highest number of A(H1N1) cases in Southeast Asia, local media are all agog searching for new sites of contagion and escalating risks. Even when Health Secretary Francisco Duque assures that all cases detected in the country so far have been “mild,” with no fatality and with most patients recovering after three days of treatment, TV and radio reporters and commentators insist on ratcheting up the alarm level, implying health authorities are either much too complacent or are covering up the “real” extent of this health threat.

Actually, as Duque has pointed out, Filipinos have far more to worry about health than a new strain of flu virus. One of these is dengue, which has been around for decades and has actually been killing individuals. The disease afflicts most anyone, regardless of economic or social standing, as the recent illness of Kris Aquino’s sons demonstrated.

But dengue is old news, while A(H1N1) flu is still sexy and exciting. And so we are “treated” each evening to footage of panic-stricken parents, children wearing face masks, and schools and colleges supposedly besieged by the threat of a novel strain of flu virus.

One amusing report concerned a private school in Parañaque where a student had tested positive for the new flu virus. The principal of a neighboring school was caught on camera expressing concern about his students getting infected “since our school is just next door.” Will someone please tell him that A(H1N1) flu is spread through droplets in the air expelled by persons infected by the virus when they sneeze, cough or touch others. The virus is not airborne, at least not through great distances. So while one could be infected by sitting in close proximity with an infected person in enclosed quarters, such as in an airplane, you can’t get infected by going to a nearby school or standing under the same sky.

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An article in the New York Times by Donald McNeil Jr. says that A(H1N1) flu has caused mostly “mild” illnesses so far and “scientists looking at its genetic structure says there is no obvious pressure” for the virus to mutate into something more lethal, that is to start killing more of its human hosts.

“It is already doing a near-perfect job of keeping itself alive by invading human noses and inducing humans to cough it from one to another,” says Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. A really aggressive flu that quickly kills its host, such as SARS and H5N1 avian flu “gives itself a problem,” says Lipkin.

We need to remember, though, that flu viruses are “highly mutable,” and, says McNeil, “anything could happen in the next two years, the time a new strain normally takes to circle the globe.” The World Health Organization has already declared a “global pandemic” of A(H1N1) flu, but experts don’t think the novel virus could reach the same level of virulence as the Spanish flu (a strain of avian influenza) that began as a mild strain but ended up killing 20-100 million people in a year’s time. That, said another expert, was a “once-a-millennium or once-every-10-millennia event.”

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One reason relatively few people have been dying from A(H1N1) flu, at least soon after the first early deaths in Mexico and the United States, has been the use of anti-viral drugs, particularly osiltamivir, which, said Dr. Eric Tayag of the National Epidemiology Center, works by delaying the effects of a viral attack, giving the body enough time to marshal its own defenses.

But one problem, points out McNeil in his article, is possible resistance to Tamiflu, a brand of osiltamivir which is widely used by health authorities to treat A(H1N1) flu. “If that happens,” says McNeil, “the world’s Tamiflu stockpiles will be all but worthless and doctors may have to switch to Relenza, which is a powder used with an inhaler, which makes it more expensive and harder to take.”

This could very well be good news for GSK, the drug multinational which manufactures and markets Relenza, which unfortunately is not marketed here. Even better news for all of us is that GSK is currently working on the development of an A(H1N1) vaccine, although it’s still in the research stage. Already, says GSK global CEO Andrew Witty, the company has already committed about 50 million doses of the vaccine to the WHO once the vaccine is tested and approved.

"Now im getting really scared of Swine Flu".

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Hand to Mouth Communion Disallowed in the Philippines Due to Flu

The Philippines, a predominantly catholic country in Asia, has been struggling to fight the spread of the A(H1N1) swine flu. As a precautionary measure, the Catholic Church has disallowed churchgoers to receive communion from priests by hand to mouth.

The Catholic Church in the Philippines has disallowed church goers from receiving communion from priests or lay ministers by hand to mouth as a precautionary measure to avoid the spread of the dreaded swine disease.

The instruction was issued by Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales as the number of confirmed A(H1N1) cases in the Philippines ballooned to 33 on Friday, earning the country the dubious distinction of having the highest incidence of infection in Southeast Asia.

“In view of detected presence of the A(H1N1) virus in our country, Cardinal Rosales has ordered that for the meantime Communion be received by the faithful only by hand," Fr. Genardo Diwa, head of the Liturgical Ministry of the Manila Archdiocese, said in an advisory.

"This is a good prevention for the virus to spread."

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Philippine swine flu cases climb to 21

MANILA, Philippines (AP): The Philippine health chief says tests have confirmed five new swine flu cases. That raises the country's total to 21.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque says two of the new cases confirmed Monday include guests at a wedding attended by two Taiwanese who fell sick after returning to Taiwan earlier this month.

The three others all returned from travel to the U.S.

Duque says seven of the 21 cases have tested negative in repeat tests, and three of them have been discharged from a hospital while four others will be sent home Monday.
Twenty of the cases are Filipinos, and one is a 13-year-old foreign boy.

"I just hope all of the Swine Flu virus cases in the Philippines will be healed and won't lead to death."

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Clean Hands Save Lives!

Keeping hands clean is one of the most important steps we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. It is best to wash your hands with soap and clean running water for 20 seconds. However, if soap and clean water are not available, use an alcohol-based product to clean your hands. Alcohol-based hand rubs significantly reduce the number of germs on skin and are fast acting.

When washing hands with soap and water:
1. Wet your hands with clean running water and apply soap. Use warm water if it is available.
2. Rub hands together to make a lather and scrub all surfaces.
3. Continue rubbing hands for 20 seconds. Need a timer? Imagine singing "Happy Birthday" twice through to a friend!
4. Rinse hands well under running water
5. Dry your hands using a paper towel or air dryer. If possible, use your paper towel to turn off the faucet

Remember: If soap and water are not available, use alcohol-based gel to clean hands.

When using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer:
1. Apply product to the palm of one hand
2. Rub hands together
3. Rub the product over all surfaces of hands and fingers until hands are dry.

"Kids and adults should follow this simple and effective way to prevent Swine Flu virus in the Philippines."

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