title: Laboratory Diagnosis for Outbreak-Prone Infectious Diseases after Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), Philippines.
abstract: Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) hit the central part of the Philippines on November 8, 2013. To identify possible outbreaks of communicable diseases after the typhoon, nasopharyngeal swabs, stool and blood samples were collected from patients who visited the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center due to acute respiratory infection (ARI), acute gastroenteritis (AGE) or other febrile illness (OFI) including suspected dengue fever, between November 28, 2013 and February 5, 2014.   Methods: Samples were tested on-site for selected pathogens using rapid diagnostic tests. Confirmation and further analysis were conducted at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Manila using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing. Residues of the rapid diagnostic tests and samples collected in the filter papers (FTATM card) were transported to Manila under suboptimal conditions. PCR results were compared between the kit residues and the filter papers.   Results: A total of 185 samples were collected. Of these, 128 cases were ARI, 17 cases were AGE and 40 cases were OFI. For nasopharyngeal swab samples, detection rates for enterovirus and rhinovirus residues were higher than the filter papers. For stool samples, rotavirus positive rate for the filter paper was higher than the kit residues. We also managed to obtain the sequence data from some of the kit residues and filter papers.   Discussion: Our results confirmed the importance of PCR for the laboratory diagnosis of infectious diseases in post-disaster situations when  diagnostic options are limited.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan; RITM-Tohoku Collaborating Research Center on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases, Muntinlupa City, Philippines.
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saito-Obata
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Mayuko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.affiliation: RITM-Tohoku Collaborating Research Center on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases, Muntinlupa City, Philippines; Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Muntinlupa City, Philippines.
authors.forename: Titus C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: RITM-Tohoku Collaborating Research Center on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases, Muntinlupa City, Philippines; Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Muntinlupa City, Philippines.
authors.forename: Inez Andrea P
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Medado
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Clyde
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dapat
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Michiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Tohoku, Japan; RITM-Tohoku Collaborating Research Center on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases. Muntinlupa City, Philippines.
authors.forename: Raita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tamaki
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Muntinlupa City, Philippines.
authors.forename: Rowena C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Capistrano
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Molecular Biology Laboratory, Muntinlupa City, Philippines.
authors.forename: Edelwisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Segubre-Mercado
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Muntinlupa City, Philippines.
authors.forename: Socorro P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Lupisan
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oshitani