MALAYSIA CONFIRMS 20 MORE INFLUENZA A (H1N1) CASES

KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 (Bernama) -- Twenty new cases of influenza A (H1N1)
were reported in Malaysia with four of the cases infected locally, raising the
number of cases to 144 so far, said the Director-General of Health, Dr
Mohd Ismail Merican.

He said the new cases involved 13 Malaysians and seven foreigners (one
Vietnamese, one German, one Australian, one Japanese, one American and two
Indonesians).

"The 16 imported cases had visited countries which were affected by the
influenza A (H1N1) namely Australia (6), Indonesia (5), United Kingdom (2),
Japan (1), Singapore (1) and Thailand (1).

"The four cases of local infection involved Malaysian nationals," he said in
a statement, here Monday.

Following the rise in imported cases from Indonesia and Thailand, Dr Mohd
Ismail said that effective today, the Health Ministry had decided to examine all
visitors from the two countries immediately upon arrival as was being done to
visitors from the Philippines, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United
States (US).

The latest case of local infection of the influenza A (H1N1), which was the
19th case, involved a 39-year-old man, and was a contact to three cases of the
flu, namely his wife and two children.

He began to show symptoms of sore throat on June 25 while under home
quarantine
before being admitted to the Penang Hospital two days ago and was confirmed
positive of the influenza A (H1N1) or swine flu on the same day. He is in stable
condition after receiving antiviral treatment.

A 15-year-old student from the Chung Hwa High School, Seremban was the 20th
local case. He is the brother of the Malaysian student who had recently returned
from Melbourne, who had also been infected with the influenza A (H1N1).

He was admitted to the Hospital Tuanku Jaafar, Seremban on Saturday while 46
of
his classmates and 12 teachers from his school had been placed under home
quarantine until July 3.

The 21st local case involved a 36-year-old teacher of Sekolah Menengah
Kebangsaan Abdul Rahim 2, Kudat. She had been admitted to the Queen Elizabeth
Hospital, Kota Kinabalu on Friday and confirmed positive on June 28.

A 16-year-old male student of Sekolah Tsun Jin Height, Jalan Loke Yew,
Cheras here was the 22nd local case who was infected after being admitted to the
Hospital Sungai Buloh on Saturday and confirmed positive yesterday.

According to the statement, the patient's contacts were being traced and his
classmates had been placed under home quarantine.

Dr Mohd Ismail said the number of influenza A (H1N1) patients who were still
being treated at the hospitals stood at 42 and all of them showed good response
to the treatment given without any complication, while the number of patients
who had completely recovered and were discharged from hospitals stood at 102.

The number of contacts who were placed under home quarantine stood at 618,
while the cumulative figure for the cases who were suspected to have been
infected with the influenza A (H1N1) so far stood at 2,343, of whom, 144 cases
were confirmed positive while the decision on 28 cases were still pending.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) disclosed that as at 8 am
today, the cumulative figure for influenza A (H1N1) cases stood at 61,688 with
265 deaths from 112 countries, an increase of 497 cases from June 28.

However, the statement said there was no increase in the number of
fatalities or new country affected.

Australia emerged as the country reporting the highest increase with 180
cases, Singapore (145), China (51), Hong Kong (66), Korea (21), New Zealand
(16), Malaysia (12) and Brunei (4).

-- BERNAMA