Expanded Zika testing set

THE DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH) is expanding Zika virus testing to four government hospitals around the country  as a measure against the possible spread of the mosquito-borne disease, which has been linked to brain defects among newborns.

Health Secretary Janette Garin said that aside from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), four other hospitals will be capable of processing blood samples from suspected cases of the virus by next month.

She identified these hospitals as San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, Baguio General Hospital, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City and Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City.

Testing for the mosquito-borne disease is presently available only at RITM, the primary hospital handling infectious diseases in the country, through the in-house real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

On Friday, RITM supervisor Ava Kristy Sy said that PCR kits had been ordered and would be delivered to the four hospitals by April.

She said the kits would be distributed after validation at the RITM and  on-site training of laboratory personnel and health workers on how to use the testing kits.

Earlier, the DOH said that those who would be tested are: Patients with the three main symptoms of the virus-fever, rashes and conjunctivitis; mothers whose babies have an abnormal head size,  and babies who have been diagnosed with microcephaly.

Sy reiterated that RITM was not offering routine testing for Zika because it wanted all cases to be investigated prior to testing [and] all samples to follow the surveillance guidance issued by the DOH Epidemiology Bureau.

Garin said the DOH could not yet allow Zika testing by private clinics because there were still questions on the efficacy and reliability of commercial testing kits.

At the moment, the DOH is getting its supply of assays for the PCR for free from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). At present, the RITM has enough assays to test 5,000 people.

“It is not yet recommended, and at the same time, we don’t want to do indiscriminate testing because by doing so, we are not only going to exhaust our laboratory personnel but we might miss a lot of things,” Garin told reporters on Friday.

The DOH has stepped up its monitoring of the Zika virus, which spread rapidly in Latin America, after receiving an alert from the CDC early this month.