Health authorities have reported the country's first cluster of domestic swine flu cases after a group of primary school students were infected in Nueva Ecija. Eric Tayag, chief of the National Epidemiology Center, said the “community level outbreak” was declared Sunday after 11 children in the village of Hilera were confirmed to have contracted the influenza A(H1N1) virus. “We have declared a community outbreak,” in the area, Tayag said in a radio interview Monday. “We are carrying out mitigation efforts.” The Hilera Elementary School will remain shut for the next 10 days, officials said. It was not clear how the students in the isolated community of 1,600 people were infected, but officials said over 90 others who were in contact with the children have also shown flu-like symptoms. The Philippines has reported a total of 155 confirmed cases of swine flu, but no deaths so far. Eight students from another provincial school were tested positive for the Influenza A(H1N1) virus. The eight new cases are students from the Do?a Candelaria Meneses Duque High School in Bulacan town in Bulacan province. Earlier in the day, DOH Bulacan provincial office head Dr. Zinia Mostoles said the school suspended its classes last Friday, after about 49 students displayed flu-like symptoms. In a phone interview, Mostoles said local health officials have been monitoring the suspected cases, and that those who fell ill had been given medicines. The Do?a Candelaria Meneses Duque High School is the second provincial school with confirmed A(H1N1) cases after Hilera Elementary School. At the DLSU, the first school to have hit by swine flu, school president Bro. Armin Luistro said “most” of the infected students have returned to the university. Duque said if another case comes up in DLSU, no suspension would happen because “we are now more familiar with the virus.”
