Philippines confirms second Mers case

The 36-year-old foreigner, whose nationality was not disclosed, has been put in isolation at a government facility to contain the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus.

MANILA // A foreigner who flew to the Philippines from the Middle East became the second confirmed case of Mers in the country, the health department said on Monday, as a deadly outbreak in South Korea spreads alarm across Asia.

The 36-year-old male patient, whose nationality was not disclosed, has been put in isolation at a government facility to contain the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus, health secretary Janette Garin said.

“We can see he is getting better,” Ms Garin said, adding the man had a “low viral load” indicating his infection was not extremely serious.

“There is no reason to panic and we appeal to the public to respect the privacy of the patient.”

The man fell ill on July 2, having earlier arrived in the country from Saudi Arabia by way of Dubai, she said, declining to give more details.

A Filipina nurse who returned from Saudi Arabia in February was the first person in the Philippines to test positive for Mers but she later recovered.

Although Ms Garin stressed that there had been no cases of Mers infection through casual contact in the Philippines, the health department was tracing people who may have had contact with the patient.

They include all those who were on the same flight as the infected man, Ms Garin said.

In South Korea, which is suffering the worst outbreak of Mers outside Saudi Arabia, 185 people have been diagnosed with the disease that has killed 33 people so far, the government there said.

Of those infected, 41 remain hospitalised, with 11 in a critical condition.

Officials in South Korea say the outbreak has already peaked and could be defused by the end of the month. But the continued discovery of new cases has raised questions about the government’s ability to control the situation.

The Philippine health department has been on alert for the possible entry of the virus that causes the Mers, particularly among the 88,000 South Koreans living in the country.

Health authorities earlier examined three South Korean expatriates who developed respiratory ailments, but all tested negative for Mers, department spokesman Lyndon Lee Suy said.

Elsewhere in Asia, Malaysia reported a case before the South Korean outbreak in May, while China reported a person with Mers who had travelled there after recent exposure in South Korea, according to the World Health Organization.

A 75-year-old Omani man who became Thailand’s first case of the virus was discharged from hospital on July 3, after being declared free of the illness by the Thai health ministry on Friday.

The ministry said that five laboratory tests showed negative results for the disease.

“Experts on infectious diseases and diagnosis have determined that he is no longer a Mers patient,” the ministry said, adding that three relatives who travelled with the man showed no sign of having contracted the virus.

The man had travelled to Bangkok last month for treatment of a heart condition and was then diagnosed with the virus. He was quarantined and treated at the ministry’s infectious diseases facility.

Mers belongs to the family of coronaviruses that includes the common cold and Sars. It can cause fever, breathing problems, pneumonia and kidney failure. Most of the deaths in South Korea have been of people suffering from pre-existing medical conditions, such as respiratory problems or cancer.

* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press