Bird flu cases in humans monitored

The Philippines started monitoring suspected bird flu cases in humans on Friday, after 34 farm workers in the provinces of Pampanga and Nueva Ecija developed flu-like symptoms after direct exposure to infected fowl.

“They developed fever, cough and cold,” Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial told reporters, adding that some of them had diarrhea.

“All of them had direct exposure to fowls and they developed common symptoms of influenza. They were already given medicines but we are now monitoring their conditions,” she said.

The Philippines has culled more than 470,000 chickens, ducks and quails in three towns in Pampanga and Nueva Ecija since Aug. 11, a day after the  government confirmed the first bird flu outbreak in the country.

Nearly 500 soldiers have been mobilized to speed up the culling of infected fowl in about 40 farms in the town of San Luis in Pampanga and in San Isidro and Jaen in Nueva Ecija.

But the Department of Health (DOH) assured the public that the H5N6 virus could not be transmitted through the consumption of chicken meat and other poultry products.

In a press conference, Ubial and other department officials ate fried chicken with the press to prove the Department of Agriculture’s claim that poultry products in the market are safe for consumption.

“The virus only enters the body through the respiratory system,” Ubial said.

Since the outbreak, a total of 41 suspected cases in humans have been reported in the department, with 34 already tested negative. These personnel are farmers and members of the military who helped in previous culling operations in Pampanga and Nueva Ecija.

According to Tropical Medicine director Dr. Socorro Lupisan, results for the remaining seven cases will be confirmed in 48 hours. The agency reiterated that the probability of animal-to-human transmission of the virus was very low.

Even industry group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) is helping ease consumer apprehension over poultry products.

“No deaths have (ever) been directly due to H5N6; ordinary human flu posed more health risk,” said Sinag chair Rosendo So.

In San Luis town in Pampanga, seven firemen who helped cull birds infected with avian flu were examined at a hospital in San Fernando but  tested negative for the bird flu virus, a health official confirmed.

“What they showed [were symptoms of] regular human influenza. They have colds, and not the H5N6 strain of avian flu that struck San Luis,” said Dr. Jesse Fantone, chief epidemiologist of the DOH in Central Luzon.

In Nueva Ecija, government doctors have yet to detect cases of bird-flu infected patients despite fears expressed by families in Barangay San Roque in San Isidro town and Barangay Imbunia in Jaen town. —WITH REPORTS FROM REUTERS, KARL R. OCAMPO, JEROME ANING, TONETTE OREJAS, ANSELMO ROQUE AND GABRIEL CARDINOZA