Image via Wikipedia(Updated 1:20 p.m.) MANILA, Philippines - The first A(H1N1)-related fatality in the country and in Asia turned out to be an employee of the House of Representatives, which prompted the leadership Tuesday to shut down the Batasan Pambansa complex in Quezon City.
House Speaker Prospero Nograles ordered the suspension of work at the House until Sunday, June 28, for the sanitation of its buildings to be spearheaded by officials from its medical services in coordination with the Department of Health (DOH).
"I have already instructed the concerned House officials to coordinate and maintain close coordination with the DOH in order to mitigate possible effects on other employees and their families," Nograles said in a statement posted on the House website.
In a separate interview on dzBB radio, House Deputy Secretary General Ricardo Roque said they would undertake continuous safety and preventive measures in time for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's State of the Nation Address on July 27.
For now, Roque said employees would be given flu-vaccine shots and would be sent home. There are "over 3,000" employees in the House of Representatives, he said.
Roque said there were two confirmed A(H1N1) cases in the House, including the 49-year-old fatality.
But he said the second employee underwent self-quarantine at home and has since recovered.
Roque said the fatality came from Kalinga-Apayao and spent time with her officemates from June 10 to 12.
On June 15 to 16, Roque said she may have taken part in a training program at the Andaya Hall in the House complex.
After that, Roque said the fatality even reported for work on June 17, and started feeling ill only the next day.
Until Monday night, there was no confirmation whether the first death related to A(H1N1) was an employee of the House, he said.
Heart disease
In an interview with GMANews.TV on Tuesday, House health committee chair Arthur Pingoy said the 49-year-old woman who died Monday mainly due to heart disease was an employee at the third floor of the Ramon V. Mitra building in the Batasan complex. The floor houses the committee affairs department.
The death of the 49-year-old woman was the first in the country and in Asia, a health official said Monday.
Her death, officially from heart failure, has prompted health officials to give the most attention to sickly people who were hit by the flu.
In a press conference in Malacañang on Monday, Dr. Yolanda Oliveros, director for the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control of the Department of Health, said the woman died of "congestive heart failure secondary to acute myocardial infarction" on June 19.
According to the patient's family, the woman developed flu-like symptoms on June 17 but still went to work that day, radio dzBB reported Monday.
She was reported to have become "restless" two days later, which prompted her family to call for medical help, but she died at home before the doctor came, according to the same report.
In a separate news conference at the DOH, Secretary Francisco Duque III said the woman had a "pre-existing heart disease" that worsened her infection. She also had a liver disease, Oliveros said.
Local, global tally
As of Monday, the total number of confirmed cases in the Philippines stood at 445. Duque, however, emphasized that 84 percent of those sickened by the virus –roughly 374 people – have fully recovered.
In the World Health Organization’s latest update, the flu virus had infected 52,160 people across the globe.
The WHO also recorded 231 deaths – 113 in Mexico, 87 in the US, 13 in Canada, seven in Argentina, four in Chile, and two in Colombia, one each in the United Kingdom, Australia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and Guatemala.
In Monday’s press conference, Duque stressed that globally and locally, "the overwhelming majority of cases only experience mild symptoms and, eventually, make a rapid and full recovery even without any form of medical intervention." – with Sophia Dedace and Johanna Camille Sisante, GMANews.TV
From GMANews.tv; see the source article here.
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