No Q fever cases yet in San Lazaro, RITM

There have been no Query (Q) Fever cases logged as of yet at San Lazaro Hospital and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), the president of the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) said Monday.

PCP president Dr. Rontgene Solante said Q Fever is rare in the Philippines but more common in Western countries.

“So far, we have not heard anything because usually when this type of infection occurs the referral hospitals are either RITM or San Lazaro because of our capacity that we have good isolation rooms and also our experience with Covid,” Solante said.

“Of these emerging and re-emerging infections, so far we have not seen anything,” he added, explaining in a televised interview that Q Fever is a zoonotic disease that comes from animals like goats, sheep, and cattle. The Department of Health earlier said that human-to-human infection is rare.

Meanwhile, animal-to-human infection rarely causes severe infection, according to Solante. Symptoms include fever, headaches and body aches.

Q Fever was detected in a government breeding station in Marinduque. Results of confirmatory tests came out on 19 June.