ADAM MALIK HOSPITAL RECEIVES TWO SWINE FLU SUSPECTS

Medan, July 27 (ANTARA) - Two people suspected to have been infected with influenza type A (H1N1) were admitted to Adam Malik general hospital here on Monday.

Hospital spokesman Atma Wijaya said here on Monday the two patients, identified by their initials as D (29) and Y (28), had just arrived at Polonia airport from Thailand and Malaysia.

"The Adam Malik general hospital today received two swine-flu suspect patients," Atma Wijaya said, adding that D was from Tebing Tinggi, North Sumatra, while Y was from Bireun district in Aceh.

He said D and Y had high temperature, flu, and cough a few days after returning from their holiday in Thailand and Malaysia.

Atma Wijaya said the two patients were still under intensive treatment at the isolation room of the hospital while their blood sample has been sent to the Ministry of Health laboratory in Jakarta to be tested to find out whether they are H1N1 positive on negative.

According to Health Ministry report on July 24, twenty-one more people had been infected with H1N1 virus, raising the national number of infection cases so far to 343 which was made up of 193 men and 150 women.

The Health Ministry said the new cases were found in Jakarta, West Java, Banten, Riau Islands, Bali, Yogyakarta, North Sumatra, East Java, East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan.

The patients including some foreigners mostly had a history of traveling to infected countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

The director general of disease control and environment health of the ministry of health, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, said in Jakarta recently that the government continued controlling the spread of the disease.

Efforts include intensifying monitoring through port health services, preparing reference hospitals and medicine, intensifying surveillance against influenza-typed diseases and preparing laboratories and increasing campaign in disease prevention.

He said the government had also encouraged people to get involved in community-based surveillance activities and asked them to immediately report to health care centers in case they had a flu.