BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

Health Regional Director Ariel Valencia said the 17-year-old student found positive for Influenza A(H1N1) was discharged from the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City yesterday and, so far, there is no indication that anyone who came in contact with her was infected.

The student was hit by A(H1N1) at De La Salle University in Manila, so it was not acquired in Negros, Valencia said, and reiterated that there is no need for panic.

He also said a 7-year-old girl from Bacolod earlier said to be under observation for A(H1N1) has not been included in the DOH watchlist. The child did not show the symptoms of an A(H1N1) case because she developed the fever after the 10-day period since her return from Guam, he said.

The Department of Health has, so far, placed 15 persons in Western Visayas, most of whom are in Panay, under observation for possible A(H1N1), he said, but added that, so far, the only positive case was the  17-year-old in Bacolod.

He assured that close monitoring is being conducted in Western Visayas to ensure immediate detection of A(H1N1) cases before the virus can be passed on to others.

Director-General Margaret Chan of the World Health Organization  has declared that the “world is now at the start of the 2009 Influenza pandemic ”  after raising the  Pandemic Alert Level  for the novel Influenza A virus from Level  5 to Level 6.

This means that the new A (H1N1) virus has now spread and caused sustained community level outbreaks in at least one or two countries in two WHO Regions, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a statement posted on the DOH website.

“As the Pandemic Alert Level has been raised to the highest alert level globally, and as we foresee more cases to appear in the coming weeks, the Department of Health will soon be shifting toward a strategy of mitigation, particularly in localities where there are indications of community level transmission,” he said.

But, to date, there is no community level transmission of A(H1N1) in the Philippines, Duque added.

With mitigation, the government will be recommending to localities and areas concerned to now focus on taking care of the sick, providing guidance for people to protect themselves and their families, and monitoring the outbreak, he said.

WHO has assessed the current pandemic as having “moderate severity” because most patients recover and survive without hospitalization or medical care, levels of severe illness from A(H1N1) appear similar to levels seen during local seasonal influenza periods, and most countries’ health systems have been able to cope with the number of people seeking and requiring care, Duque added.

Negros Occidental Gov, Isidro Zayco also reiterated that there is no cause for panic, pointing out that there is even a cure for A(H1NI), unlike dengue.*CPG