INFLUENZA A (H1N1) UPDATE

12 August 2010
source: www.doh.gov.ph

STATEMENT OF HEALTH SECRETARY DR. ENRIQUE T. ONA ON THE WHO DECLARATION OF THE INFLUENZA A (H1N1) POST-PANDEMIC PERIOD

The Department of Health (DOH) concurs with the recent announcement of WHO Director-General Margaret Chan that the world is now shifting toward the post-pandemic period of Influenza A (H1N1). The review of the current alert levels of the A (H1N1) pandemic by the WHO was in fact one of the recommendations during the ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting held in July this year.

As can be gleaned from the official WHO announcement, the post-pandemic phase means that the A (H1N1) virus has taken on a behavior and intensity similar to that of the regular seasonal flu viruses. It also means that we expect sustained community level transmission and localized outbreaks of A (H1N1) in the coming years.

In the country, similar to the rest of the world, all evidence indicates that the virus mostly causes mild symptoms that resolve even without antiviral treatment in the overwhelming majority of cases. There is also no indication of a change or mutation in the virus that would point to increased virulence or a change in the severity or character of the flu illness that it causes to patients.

In the Philippines, findings reveal that A (H1N1) remains to be the dominant strain with 49% of 11,904 specimens submitted to and analyzed by the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) testing positive for A (H1N1) 2009 (as of July 31, 2010). This is in contrast with the global situation described by the WHO as having a “mix of influenza viruses, typically seen during seasonal epidemics.”
With the shift toward the post-pandemic phase, let me assure everyone that the DOH will continue to monitor the situation and heed the advice of WHO to continue our early detection and surveillance activities and remain vigilant against the expected local outbreaks as part of the DOH Surveillance for influenza-like illnesses (ILI).
Our local experience in handling the A (H1N1) pandemic of 2009 has already proven the capacity of our government to respond to this emerging challenge especially in giving care to the minority of patients who may need treatment and care in our health facilities. In fact, our efforts have been commended by the WHO in terms of giving an adequate and efficient response; establishing effective collaboration between our government, the WHO and the international community; and in providing effective risk communication to the public since the beginning of the A (H1N1) pandemic.
We shall also intensify our vaccination strategy in targeting our health workers and high-risk groups which include pregnant women, the very young and the elderly, the immuno-compromised and those with chronic conditions (i.e. asthma, COPD, diabetes, cardiovascular disease).
Thus, I encourage our health workers and all our citizens who belong to these vulnerable groups to avail of the vaccines that we have already been providing for free in our local health facilities and DOH-managed hospitals since early this year. I also call on our hospitals and frontline healthcare providers to continue the effective management of our local cases following the clinical guidelines that the DOH has issued in 2009.