A(H1N1): Malaysia records 4th death, more schools closed (Update 3)

PUTRAJAYA: A 20-year-old woman suffering from Influenza A(H1N1) died on Tuesday, the fourth person to die in Malaysia due to the virus, while more schools and campuses were closed when students exhibited flu-like symptoms.

The woman, who had contracted the virus through a local transmission, died at the Malacca Hospital from “severe community acquired pneumonia” at 9.40am.

Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said the woman, who had suffered from obesity, had only sought treatment at the hospital on July 26, 11 days after contracting the disease.

She suffered clinical complications on July 27 and a throat swab was taken on Tuesday.

“The deaths reported affected victims between their 20s and 40s. They had early symptoms but sought treatment late and doctors did not suspect that they were infected by H1N1.

“This is discomforting to the Ministry,” he said after chairing the National Pandemic Preparedness Plan technical committee meeting here Wednesday.

Asked why the ministry was not alerted on the case on Tuesday, he said the doctor had only discovered she had H1N1 infection after her death.

Dr Ismail said he was informed of her death after the Institute of Medical Research got the results on Wednesday morning.

On whether the ministry would take action against hospitals for failure to detect H1N1 cases early, he said, “We don’t want to resort to the blame game. We advise patients to go to hospitals if they have symptoms.”

He said members of the public were still taking H1N1 lightly even after four deaths, adding that the latest victim had not heeded to her parents’ advice to go to the hospital for early treatment. He also said that doctors should be more alert.

In TANJUNG MALIM in Perak, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris has been closed for seven days starting Wednesday after an unconfirmed number of students showed flu-like symptoms.

State Health Committee chairman Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said the concerned students had been sent to the Tanjung Malim Hospital for a check-up.

Those who have exhibited symptoms have been quarantined on campus, while thousands of other students have been sent home.

In GEORGE TOWN, three schools and a university campus were also affected.

Penang Health, Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh confirmed that the MRSM Kepala Batas and two classes at SK Kepala Batas were closed, starting Tuesday, for a week.

“The other two are the Universiti Sains Malaysia engineering campus near Nibong Tebal and Jit Sin A Primary School in Bukit Mertajam which are closed starting today (July 29) for a week,” he said Wednesday.

He did not reveal the numbers of students infected but said they were “cluster cases of influenza-like illness.”

According to the Health Ministry’s statistics, as of July 29, the number of reported H1N1 cases stood at 1,266 including the four deaths. The number of local infections has surpassed the number of imported cases at 692 and 574 cases respectively.