August 06, 2009 17:38 PM
Influenza A H1N1 Deaths Leap To 14
PUTRAJAYA, Aug 6 (Bernama) -- Another death related to Influenza A (H1N1), that of a 57-year old male pensioner at the Putrajaya Hospital Wednesday, has raised the number of deaths due to the pandemic to 14 since this morning.
Director-General of Health Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said the victim who had diabetes and hypertension was admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) with symptoms of fever, cough and difficulty in breathing.
"He was confirmed having the virus yesterday. He died yesterday of Acute Pulmonary Oedema secondary to H1N1," he told reporters here Thursday.
In that regard, Dr Mohd Ismail again stressed that people with high risk like pregnant women, those with lung disease, obesity, diabetes, asthma, low immunity, heart disease and breathing difficulty to seek immediate treatment at the nearest clinic or hospital as treatment for Influenza A (H1N1) was very effective if treatment was started within 48 hours of onset of symptoms.
He said for those who have normal influenza symptoms and not in the high risk groups they are advised to not panic and rush to get themselves tested.
He said this was because many H1N1 cases in Malaysia, and the rest of the world, would show light symptoms and 98 per cent would recover even without specific medicine.
"Patients with light symptoms are asked to rest and God Willing will recover in three or four days. After recovering they will have the anti-body, so it is not necessary for all cases with light symptoms to undergo H1N1 testing," he said.
Dr Mohd Ismail said H1N1 testing would only be done for cases admitted to ward and those with high risk.
He said this was because the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) which is responsible for testing is swamped with 500 tests a day and that 80-90 per cent were tested negative.
-- BERNAMA
No comments:
Post a Comment