The Philippines on Sunday reported its second confirmed case of swine flu. Health Secretary Francisco Duque said the patient was a 50-year-old woman who arrived last Wednesday from Chicago in the United States. The woman, whose name was withheld, sought medical help a day later, after showing flu symptoms. The patient has been isolated and is being monitored at Manila's Research Institute of Tropical Medicine, while quarantine officials trace those who came into contact with her. On Thursday the health department announced the Philippines' first swine flu case, a 10-year-old girl whose family had traveled to the United States. Her family flew home last week and officials are now tracing some 17 passengers who are believed to have come into close contact with her. Duque said on Sunday the girl was recovering and appeared to have contracted a mild form of swine flu. “There remains no community-level outbreak” in the Philippines, Duque said Sunday, adding that authorities at this stage would not postpone the start of the school year, scheduled for June 1. “The symptoms that we have observed in the first two confirmed cases are similar to the symptoms manifested by most other patients in affected countries,” he said. “This is really just a mild form of the virus. However, this is new and we do not know if this will turn for the worse,” he said. Taiwanese authorities confirmed Saturday that a woman and her daughter who had visited the Philippines for a yoga class had contracted swine flu. “We are stepping up our preparedness and response plan more intensely. We have been working round the clock especially now that we are officially announcing the second confirmed case of H1N1 in the country,” Duque said in a press briefing in Quezon City.
