Update includes background on the two workers
Pampanga (CNN Philippines, August 16) — The two farm workers who were said to be showing flu-like symptoms have been declared free of the bird flu virus on Wednesday, according to test results conducted by the Pampanga provincial health office.
The farm workers, both males aged 28, reported flu symptoms on Monday. They headed to the San Carlos daycare center the moment they showed signs of flu. They were subjected to nasal and throats swabs on the same day, which were confirmed negative.
They worked in poultry farms in San Carlos, which is one of two barangays where the outbreak began. They also participated in culling the birds and possibly exposed themselves to the avian influenza.
They are still confined in the San Carlos daycare center. The Department of Health requires all those that show flu symptoms in the one-kilometer area around ground zero be monitored until declared healthy.
Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol Piñol earlier said the virus strain found in birds, including chickens, in San Luis — H5 — is not transmissible to humans, although additional samples were sent to an Australian laboratory to determine if it is positive for H5N6, which can affect humans.
The province of Pampanga declared a state of calamity on August 11 following an outbreak of bird flu virus in the town of San Luis.
