MERS: No cause for alarm in Phl

 

The Department of Health (DOH) has maintained that there is no need for the public to worry despite neighboring Thailand now having its first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

 

“There is nothing to fear, there is nothing to be alarmed about because systems are in place to deal with MERS-CoV. It’s just one case in Thailand and the ministry of health there is already addressing it,” DOH spokesmsn Lyndon Lee Suy saidyesterday.

 

He has also reiterated that precautionary measures have long been in place to keep MERS-CoV out of the Philippines and there is no need to change the country’s preparations for the deadly disease.

 

“Travelers must still fill out the health declaration checklist and they have to undergo thermal scan at the airports,” he said. “These measures would not do any harm. The purpose is to protect.”

 

Thailand has confirmed its first MERS-CoV case, a 75-year-old businessman from Oman. Thailand is the fourth Asian country to report a confirmed case, after China, the Philippines and South Korea.

 

South Korea is experiencing an outbreak of MERS-CoV, the largest outside the Middle East. As of June 16, the World Health Organization (WHO) recorded 154 cases, including 23 deaths in the country.

 

The Philippines’ only case is a 32-year-old nurse who came home from Saudi Arabia last February. She turned out to be pregnant and eventually recovered from the illness.

 

The Philippine consulate general has advised Filipinos in Hong Kong to avoid travel to South Korea and the Middle East after Hong Kong raised the response level for MERS-CoV preparedness plan to “serious.”

 

“If travel is necessary, please avoid visiting health care institutions and take extra precautionary measure such as wearing a mask and frequent hand washing,” the consulate said in a statement.

 

MERS is a viral respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

 

MERS symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. Pneumonia is common, but not always present. Gastrointestinal symptoms, including diarrhoea, were also reported.

 

Approximately 36 percent of reported patients with MERS died. Since September 2012, the WHO has been notified of 1,321 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV globally, including at least 466 related deaths.

 

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