MANILA, Philippines—Eleven more schools in San Pablo City in Laguna have students who tested positive for Influenza A(H1N1), prompting the city health office to advise them to suspend classes.

Dr. Job D. Brion, city health officer, identified the schools as the Academia De San Pablo De Loyola, Canossa College of San Pablo, Col. Dizon High School, Lake City Christian School, Del Remedio School Annex 4, Central Elementary School, Laguna College, City High School (Main), Science High School, Central Fast Learner School, and Liceo De San Pablo.

The A(H1N1) cases have been monitored by health personnel, Brion said.

Eighty students at a college seminary here were also asked not to report to class from July 7 to July 17 as two of them were positive for A(H1N1).

Brion said that immediately after the presence of the virus was detected, his office ordered the schools to suspend classes for 10 days.

Summit

In Tacloban City, the Department of Health (DOH) will hold a summit on the disease tomorrow to address a growing number of children suspected of getting the virus, said Dr. Nicolas Bautista, regional chief epidemiologist.

“We cannot afford to have a community transmission of the disease,” Bautista said.

School authorities urgently need to know more about the ailment and how its spread can be prevented, he said.

About 80 percent of the 242 suspected cases in the region were students and children, regional sentinel nurse Boyd Cerro said.

Of the 96 confirmed cases, about 90 percent were students or children, Cerro added.

Tacloban has 18 confirmed cases, including three from the Cirilo Roy Montejo National High School and another three from the Tacloban Sped Center, an elementary school, Dr.
Jaime Opinion, city health officer said. The latest cases were asked to observe self-quarantine.

Ronelo Al Firmo, city schools division superintendent, said classes in these schools were suspended for seven days starting Monday to prevent the further spread of the virus.

Bautista said officials from the education and health departments would participate in the summit.

The A(H1N1) virus claimed its most prominent victim in the city when the 10-year-old daughter of Mayor Alfred Romualdez tested positive for the virus.

Opinion said the child contracted the disease from a classmate at the Bethel International School, a private school in Palo, Leyte.

Two other schools from Palo, the Philippine Science High School and the Sacred Heart Seminary, have either confirmed or suspected A(H1N1) cases.

With the steep rise in the number of cases, Eastern Visayas has been ranked 4th among the regions with the biggest number of cases, behind Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Southern Tagalog, Bautista said.

Protocol

In Baguio City, the health department, city government, and the Commission on Higher Education are reviewing the protocol addressing A(H1N1) infections in schools after uncovering an error made by one of four schools that suspended classes last week.

One university sent home students without asking them to stay in the city, as required by containment guidelines that aimed to curb further contamination of the A(H1N1).

Many of the students come from nearby provinces in the Cordillera, the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, and Central Luzon.

On Friday, the Department of Health declared a low-level community outbreak of A(H1N1) in Baguio. Under this classification, suspension of classes is no longer necessary.

Schools that suspended classes from July 8 to July 18 are the Saint Louis University and the University of Baguio, including their high schools and grade schools, the Baguio City National High School, and the Pines City National High School.

The Benguet State University in neighboring La Trinidad town in Benguet suspended classes on Monday because of newly detected infections on campus, said Freddie Bernal, CHEd Cordillera director.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer