June 12, 2009 Major News Stories

AH1N1 case umakyat sa 92

Umabot na ngayon sa 92 ang kaso ng mga hinina-lang nagkasakit ng in-fluenza AH1N1 flu virus sa bansa makaraang 15 pang dagdag na pas yente ang naitala ka hapon ng Department of Health.

UN: World "must be watchful" of A/H1N1 

UN Secretary-general Ban Ki- moon said here yesterday that the world "must be watchful" of A/ H1N1 flu, but "it is not in itself a cause for alarm."

Schools reminded to heed H1N1 guidelines

As classes in high school and college finally resume next week, the Department of Health is reminding schools to be extra careful and following the guidelines set by DOH in preventing the spread of the H1N1 virus.

Pasukan sa kolehiyo tuloy sa Lunes

Ipatutuloy ng Commission on Higher Education ang pagbubukas ng klase sa mga kolehiyo sa Lunes matapos mabatid na hindi epektibo ang pagsuspinde nito laban sa AH1N1 influenza virus.

Late enrolees dawaton-DepEd

Nagpadayon gihapon ang mga pampublikong mga tunghaan sa dakbayan sa Sugbu pagdawat sa mga late enrolees bisan pa man kun pipila ka semana na nga nagsugod ang klase.

Teacher denies harming student

AN education official yesterday defended a Danao City teacher accused by parents of using "harsh" corporal punishment on her students.  The teacher, identified as Nestoria Quitariano, has denied allegations by parents that she harshly punished her Grade 1 students in Cambubho Elementary School.

NBI asked to look into DepEd bidding issue

The Presidential Anti-Graft Commission has asked the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the bidding for P17 million worth of school furniture by the Bids and Awards Committee of the Department of Education-Cebu province.

Reyes disputes Recto on fuel prices

Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes Thursday disputed claims made by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto that local petroleum products were overpriced by P8 a liter, saying the allegations had no basis.

Archdiocese to re-possess properties

The Archdiocese of Cebu is asking the city government to help them acquire back at least three of their properties in barangay Carreta and at the Parian area.

Colon night market starts today

Other than the small and medium entrepreneurs, commercial retailing giants in the city are also joining the Second Shopping Colon Festival.

Barangay chiefs for Margot-Joy

JUST days after Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña publicly affirmed the tandem of Vice Mayor Michael Rama and consultant Joy Young for the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) ticket in next year's elections, talks of barangay captains pushing for a different tandem surfaced.

Her plans after 2010 none of your business

Whatever the president plans to do after 2010 is none of your business. Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Gabby Claudio said President Arroyo reserves the right not to entertain questions about her plans after 2010.

Perjury ni Lozada ibinasura

Dinismis na kaha-pon ng Manila Regional Trial Court ang kasong perjury na isinampa ni dating Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor laban kay NBN- ZTE star witness Rodol-fo Noel "Jun" Lozada, Jr.

Pacquiao sneaks into Cebu again

Just like his previous visit in the Queen Ciy of the South during the Sinulog festival this year, boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao slipped into Cebu with little notice the other day, slept overnight at the posh Shangri-La Hotel and then proceeded to Bohol yesterday morning for a short vacation with his family and a coterie of friends.

Pacquiao flying to New York after all

After burning the lines with his promoter, his adviser and an emissary from Malacañang, Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao agreed to cut short his scheduled family vacation, fly straight to the Big Apple and receive his Fighter of the Year award from the Boxing Writers Association of America on Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

Aznar scion sues man for libel, defamation

A member of the prominent Aznar family has sued the adopted son of actress Amalia Fuentes for libel and three counts of unjust vexation before the Regional Trial Court yesterday for posting "defamatory messages" against her on the Internet.  Angelica Aznar-Sierra filed the complaint for libel and three counts of unjust vexation against Gerald Stevens, 24, after the latter posted defamatory messages through e-mail, Internet, his blog and Friendster account.

Belo denies role in upload of Halili video

Dr. Vicky Belo denied on Thursday having a hand in uploading the sex video of Dr. Hayden Kho and actress Katrina Halili.

Imelda in tears, says she's penniless

A tearful former First Lady Imelda Marcos on Thursday claimed she was penniless and had to withdraw from her husband's pension to pay for the travel bond set by the Sandiganbayan for her recent trip to Singapore for a medical check-up.

Kawalang-gana ni Cory sa pagkain 

Kinumpirma kahapon ni Senator Benigno "Noy noy" Aquino III na hindi mabuti ang appetite ni dating Pangulong Corazon Aquino kaya hindi ito mas ya dong nakakakain.

Swine flu: a timeline

Here is a timeline of the swine flu crisis:

April 24, 2009

- World Health Organization (WHO) announces that around 800 suspected cases of so-called swine flu have been recorded in Mexico, including 60 suspected deaths, as well as seven cases in the United States. Health authorities around the world go on alert.

Mexican officials later say the first recorded fatality was a 39-year-old woman who died on April 13 in Oaxaca, southeastern Mexico.

April 25

- WHO warns that the virus, identified as a member of the H1N1 family, has "pandemic potential." Mexico orders isolation of sick people and closes many public establishments.

April 27

- First three cases are confirmed in Europe.

- WHO raises its alert level from three to four on a scale of six, signaling a "significant increase in risk of a pandemic."

April 28

- First cases in central America and the Middle East.

April 29

- A 23-month-old Mexican child is the first confirmed death in the United States.

- WHO raises alert level to five, calling on countries to prepare for an "imminent" pandemic.

- The first cases involving people who had not visited Mexico are confirmed in the United States, Spain and Germany.

- Mexican Finance Minister Agustin Carstens says the impact of the flu crisis could cut GDP by 0.3 and 0.5 percent.

April 30

- WHO adopts the term "influenza A(H1N1)" after veterinary experts point out that disease is not occurring among pigs.

May 20

Confirmed cases pass the 10,000 mark, with 80 confirmed deaths.

May 22

WHO says the pharmaceutical industry could produce a vaccine by the end of June.

June 9

A swine flu pandemic is described as "very close" by a WHO official.

June 11

WHO declares a swine flu pandemic, raising its alert to the maximum level six. A total of 74 countries are now affected by the virus, with 27,737 cases including 141 deaths.

Don't worry, it's just a pandemic

Now it's official: We have a flu pandemic. But what does it mean? For many, the term may be tinged with fear. It evokes folk memories of three influenza pandemics that erupted last century and claimed tens of millions of lives.  The worst was the 1918-19 "Spanish flu."

The greatest plague of the 20th century killed as many as 50 million people, particularly the young and healthy, who could be dispatched to their grave in just a few days, their ravaged lungs filled with blood.

But health experts are keen to defuse any "we're all going to die" reflex after the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday announced a flu pandemic was underway.

For one thing, "pandemic" is only a technical term that indicates the geographical spread of a disease.

Despite its scary connotations, the word is no indication as to how contagious or lethal the disease is.

"You can have serious pandemics, and you can have wimpy pandemics," notes Albert Osterhaus, a well known virologist at the University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Nor does the term apply only to influenza: the world already has pandemics of AIDS and malaria.

Together, they kill around three million people a year and infect millions more. They may cause grief and fear, but not panic.

The reason is that these pandemics have been established for decades, which means people deem them quantifiable risks, rather than a new, apparently random and thus terrifying peril.

Adam Kamradt-Scott, research fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at the University of London, says keeping a sense of proportion is essential as the world confronts the new flu virus.

"Even in the worst-case scenario, if this turns out to be a particularly nasty strain with around 25 percent of the population affected, the bulk of people are going to recover and lead normal lives healthwise," Kamradt-Scott told AFP.

"There is a risk that some people could die, but ultimately the majority of people who contract it will recover. So people need to be cautious and take precautions, and act on scientific evidence and not panic."

How lethal the new flu is, or could become, is a question for virologists and epidemiologists -- specialists in analyzing a pathogen's genetic ID and how it propagates.

Pandemic viruses are microbes that have acquired new genetic material while mixing in an animal host -- usually a pig, which is able to harbor bird, flu and swine viruses simultaneously -- and then leap the species barrier.

The new genes mean people have no immunity to the virus, as they have not been exposed to it before. And as the virus spreads among humans, the strain is likely to further mutate.

"After emerging into a population it may acquire sudden virulence," explained Patrick Berche, professor of microbiology at the Necker Hospital for Sick Children in Paris.

"Then, when more and more of the population build up immunity to it, the virus starts to lose its virulence."

The pandemics of so-called Asian flu in 1957-58 and of "Hong Kong" flu in 1968-69 killed up to four million people and around a million respectively, according to varying estimates.

Their case fatality rate was around 0.1 percent. By contrast, mortality for "Spanish flu" was 25 times higher -- "The Mother of All Pandemics" is how US virologists Jeffery Taubenberger and David Morens describe it.

By resurrecting the virus, recovered in scraps among frozen corpses in Alaska, and then testing it on lab animals, Taubenberger and colleagues found it had a unique combination of genes that caused the immune system to run amok.

There is a host of factors other than genes that determine the toll from a pandemic.

These include the speed at which it travels geographically, the proximity of people, the season (winter is more favorable to the virus than summer), and, of course, medical preparedness and precautions taken by individuals and governments.

What makes the world more vulnerable in 2009 as compared to 1918 is the advent of jet travel, which means a virus can travel continents in just hours, and a population that has surged from two billion to six billion.

"But the advantages are that we have antivirals and antibiotics," said Berche. "In 1918, many deaths were due to secondary bacterial pneumonia following viral infection."

"In developed countries, we're no longer in 1918," said Joseph Ajjar, an epidemiologist who is head of the French Society of Hospital Hygiene. "On the other hand, I fear the ones who will pay a heavy price are developing countries."

Josh Billings  - "Every man has his follies - and often they are the most interesting thing he has got."