PETALING JAYA (Sept 3, 2009 ) : A 25-year-old woman from Betong, Sarawak is the latest Influenza A(H1N1) case bringing the total number of deaths to 73.
Health director-general Tan Sri Mohd Ismail Merican said in a statement yesterday she is not a co-morbid case.
"She was admitted to Hospital Betong on Aug 30 due to cough, fever and sore-throat for five days. She had received three out-patient treatments in the same hospitals earlier," he said.
The patient was referred to Hospital Sibu on Aug 31 for further treatment and antiviral was given on the same day. She died on Tuesday due to severe pneumonia with H1N1 infection.
"The case was confirmed positive of H1N1 through laboratory test yesterday," Mohd Ismail said.
He said 266 new patients with Influenza-like-Illness (ILI) have been admitted to hospitals, bringing the total number of ILI patients being treated in 110 hospitals including 11 private hospitals, to 1,211.
Of the total, only 230 are positive of the virus and 293 have been discharged.
"From the 230 confirmed cases, 41 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with 31 of them from the high risk group," said Mohd Ismail.
The Health Ministry found many people with the ILI symptoms like cough, fever and sore-throat are still visiting public places like shopping complexes and entertainment centres.
"These people are supposed to be resting at home and even if they have to leave home, they must wear face masks to prevent others from being infected," Mohd Ismail said.
He said there are still many who do not understand how the H1N1 virus spreads.
"The Influenza A(H1N1) virus spreads from human to human through liquid droplets , which is comes out while talking, coughing or sneezing," he explained.
"If people can understand this, then it is much easier to control the spread and take preventive measures and when we know an individual with ILI symptoms, we must be distant from them to avoid being infected."
Reminding those with symptoms to always maintain social distancing, Mohd Ismail said they must keep at least one metre away from the people around them and this includes those who are under home quarantine, so that they would infect their family members or housemates.
(Source: http://www.sun2surf.com/articlePrint.cfm?id=37662)
"She is not a co-morbid case."
In other words, this is the first case that came not from the high risk group, meaning the victim was a healthy person who got infected and died.
Definition of co-morbid:
In medicine and in psychiatry, comorbidity is either
- The presence of one or more disorders (or diseases) in addition to a primary disease or disorder; or
- The effect of such additional disorders or diseases.
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