The House of Representatives suspended operations Tuesday for five days after news that the country's first swine flu-related fatality worked at the legislature. House Speaker Prospero Nograles ordered the suspension after officials confirmed the 49-year-old woman with swine flu, who died Friday, worked for a congressional committee. The legislature building will be sanitized, said Nograles. Ramon Ricardo Roque, the House deputy secretary-general for administration, said the woman had attended a committee seminar June 15 and 16. She also traveled to northern Kalinga province on June 11 to 14. A second House employee, a man, is recovering from the virus, Roque said. Many awmakers were already away, because the House is in recess until July 27. However, the suspension shuts down ongoing committee hearings and closes staff offices continuing work during the recess. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said some relatives and co-workers of the woman – who died of heart failure but also was infected with the H1N1 virus – were in quarantine. The Philippines confirmed 28 more infections, bringing the country's total to 473. Dr. Yolanda Oliveros, director for the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control of the Department of Health, said the 49-year-old woman actually died of “congestive heart failure secondary to acute myocardial infarction” on June 19. She also had heart and liver diseases, which complicated her case. Oliveros said the patient developed flu-like symptoms last June 17 but still reported for work that day. She said members of her family reported that she became “restless” two days later, prompting them to call for a doctor. But she died on her bed before the doctor arrived, they said. Duque said a laboratory analysis of the swab taken from the dead woman's mouth confirmed that she had been infected by the H1N1 virus. “H1N1 is not the cause of death, but the virus could have exacerbated the situation,” the health secretary said. Duque said this is true for many other deaths worldwide attributed to H1N1, including those in Mexico and the United States. He said the swine flu infection worsened the victims' other illnesses, leading to their deaths. On a positive note, the DOH reported that 84 percent of the 445 H1N1 cases so far have recovered from their illness. The death of the 49-year-old Filipino woman infected with Influenza A(H1N1) has died was said also to be the first swine-flu-related fatality in Asia, a health official said Monday. despite the relatively “mild” nature of the virus, the University of Santo Tomas (UST) became the latest school to record an H1N1 case, prompting the university to close down some of its colleges. UST is the ninth educational institution in Metro Manila to register H1N1 cases. Other schools that have reported confirmed cases of H1N1 are De La Salle University-Manila, De La Salle University-College of Saint Benilde, Ateneo de Manila High School, FEU-East Asia College, the Mapua Institute of Technology in Makati, St. Andrew School in Para?aque, Our Lady of Perpetual Succor College in Marikina, and Miriam College in Quezon City.
