DEATH OF CHILD RAISES H1N1 FLU DEATH TOLL TO 70

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 (Bernama) -- A three-year-old child has died of Influenza
A(H1N1), raising to 70 the death toll from the disease in the country.

Director-General of Health Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said Tuesday the child
died on Aug 18 of encephalitis with cerebral odema and multi-organ failure.

He also said that 52 new cases of Influenza-like illness (ILI) were admitted
to hospitals while 162 ILI patients were discharged, leaving 1,354 ILI patients
still under treatment in 82 hospitals nationwide.

Dr Mohd Ismail said in a statement that treatment was first administered to
the child on Aug 12 after suffering from fits and cough for two days.

However, the following day, the child's condition worsened, requiring
admission to the intensive care unit and treatment with the anti-viral drug,
Tamiflu, he said.

Dr Mohd Ismail said that of the 1,345 patients in hospital, only 202 or 15
per cent had been confirmed as H1N1 positive, and 42 of these cases were under
intensive care.

"Of the 42 cases under intensive care, 38 are in the risk category, having
chronic illnesses (15), being obese (nine), suffering from diabetes (six), being
children or infants (three), women who were pregnant or in the post-delivery
period (three) or suffering from Down's syndrome (two)," he said.

Dr Mohd Ismail said the World Health Organisation (WHO) had reported a total
of 239,397 H1N1 cases with 2,578 deaths worldwide as of Tuesday, indicating that
the pandemic was still active.
-- BERNAMA