Published: Thursday May 14, 2009 MYT 11:23:00 AM
Updated: Thursday May 14, 2009 MYT 3:50:00 PM
H1N1: Two more test negative, one more suspect (Update)
By CHAN LI LEEN and RUBEN SARIO
PETALING JAYA: Health authorities have cleared two travellers who exhibited symptoms similar to Influenza A (H1N1) after their tests proved negative, while a third person is being observed.
In the first case in IPOH, a man who recently returned from Thailand turned out to be suffering from a seasonal flu, said Perak Health, Local Government, Consumer Affairs, Environment, Public Transportation and Non-Islamic Affairs committee chairman Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon.
“Results of his blood samples shows he has influenza A (H3) and not A (H1N1),” he said Thursday.
On Wednesday, Dr Mah had revealed that the 51-year-old storekeeper from Taiping was being isolated at the Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun in Ipoh after developing fever, muscle aches, sore throat, vomiting and diarrhoea upon returning from Haadyai.
Despite diagnosing him with acute gastroenteritis, health officials still placed the man in isolation and took blood samples from him to rule out the deadly flu virus, which has reached Thailand.
The patient has since been discharged, Dr Mah said.
In KOTA KINABALU, flu symptoms in an elderly Canadian tourist had sent Sabah health authorities into their first alert.
Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said the 71-year-old man however tested negative for the virus after being quarantined overnight at a designated isolation centre in Kepayan. He was released on Thursday.
“Our health authorities will remain vigilant for those who could be infected by the virus,” he said after chairing the State Security Council meeting Thursday.
Musa, who had earlier been briefed by Sabah Health Department director Dr Marzukhi Md Isa, said the man had arrived on May 5 and after a week became ill and suffered from fever and a sore throat.
Musa said the Canadian visited a private medical clinic at Luyang on May 12 and the doctor there immediately alerted Health Department officials who took the man to the quarantine centre.
The man’s blood sample was sent to Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and he was released early Thursday after the test showed a negative result for the virus.
In KUCHING, a Sarawak woman who just returned from Massachusetts in the United States, was admitted to the isolation ward of the Sarawak General Hospital here as a precautionary measure.
Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan said the 55-year-old woman had cough, fever and flu and had visited the United States 11 days ago, Bernama reported.
He said she was admitted to the isolation ward on Wednesday and had been placed under observation.
“Clinical samples are being tested at the Institute of Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur. The results will be known at the latest by tomorrow (today) morning,” he told Bernama.
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