SEVERAL schools in Cagayan de Oro City suspended in-person classes this week due to students and faculty exhibiting flu-like symptoms.

Among the schools that shifted to online classes for basic education beginning Wednesday were Corpus Christi School, Lourdes College, Liceo de Cagayan University, and Xavier University.

In its memorandum, Liceo said the measure was made “to avoid contamination by the new Nipah virus,” which has caused an outbreak in India.

Nipah usually spreads to humans from animals or through contaminated food, but it can also be transmitted directly between people.

Fruit bats are the natural carriers of the virus and have been identified as the most likely cause of subsequent outbreaks.

Symptoms include intense fever, vomiting, and a respiratory infection, but severe cases can involve seizures and brain inflammation that results in a coma.

There is no vaccine for Nipah.

Amid this development, the Department of Health maintained that there are no cases yet of Nipah infection in the Philippines.

“The DOH officially maintains that there are no Nipah virus cases in the nation,” the DOH Center for Health Development-Northern Mindanao said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Although there have been instances of both faculty and students here in Cagayan de Oro who are exhibiting the signs and symptoms of the viral illness, it is not yet clear whether a particular virus is to blame.”

The DOH and the city government urged the public to follow minimum health standards, including hand washing and proper wearing of masks. 

with a report from Agence France-Presse