MANILA, Philippines -- The Influenza A(H1N1) virus would generally go away with time and paracetamol and a good decongestant could manage the symptoms caused by the virus in persons without chronic illnesses, a health official said.

“The illness is self-limiting,” Health Undersecretary Mario Villaverde told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) in a phone interview.

“If you have fever, you take paracetamol. If you have colds, you take a decongestant,” he added.

Villaverde’s statements come in the wake of a Department of Health (DoH) memorandum issued last week, that limits the government’s distribution of the anti-flu drug oseltamivir only to patients who are considered high-risk: infants or the elderly, pregnant women and those with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, asthma, hypertension, and HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), among others.

“Generally, the cases in the Philippines and in other countries are mild,” Villaverde said when asked why oseltamivir would no longer be given to all A(H1N1) cases except those with existing medical conditions.

Close contacts of A(H1N1)-positive patients would no longer be given oseltamivir, the DoH guidelines said. Exceptions to this rule are health workers who came in contact with the patients without the necessary protective gear such as face masks.

Villaverde answered in the negative when asked if the surge in confirmed cases in the country—861 as of Friday—was a factor in limiting the government’s distribution of oseltamivir to avoid a shortage in the near future.

“Personally, I think we could have done this earlier,” Villaverde said.

He added United States has been limiting oseltamivir to high-risk cases. The US entered the mitigation phase much earlier because of the faster spread of the virus there, said health officials.

The DoH at the start of the A(H1N1) crisis said that the government had a stockpile of 1.5 million doses of oseltamivir.

Oseltamivir is now reportedly going for P150 a dose.

The DoH’s mitigation response at the beginning of a community outbreak gives particular attention to the vulnerable group of people who are likely to develop complications.
It encourages early consultation to prevent complications and severe outcome.

The first person in the country to have died just as she contracted the A(H1N1) virus suffered from congestive heart failure aggravated by pneumonia. She was also found to have an enlarged kidney, spleen and kidney, a tumor in the uterus and mild goiter.