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10 New H1N1 Cases Detected

KUALA LUMPUR, June 6 (Bernama) -- Ten new cases of Influenza A (H1N1) were detected in the country over the 24 hours up to yesterday evening, taking to 14, 952 the number of cumulative cases so far, Director-General of Health Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said on Sunday.

No deaths or new cluster cases of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) were reported over the period, he said in a statement. The H1N1 death toll stands at 88.

Dr Mohd Ismail said, however, that 55 ILI cluster cases were still active in the country.

He also said that 521 ILI cases were being treated in hospitals nationwide, with 50 of the cases or 9.6 per cent confirmed as H1N1.

"Eight patients were under treatment in intensive care and seven of them were individuals in the risk category," he said.

Dr Mohd Ismail said that as H1N1 was still active in many countries, the people were advised to be on the alert and adopt control and preventive measures.

PUTRAJAYA: No new influenza-like illness clusters were reported in the 24 hours from 8am Sunday to 8am today, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican.
He said there were 49 ILI clusters that were still active in the country.

"Thirteen new cases confirmed positive for Influenza A (H1N1) brought ILI cumulative overall cases to 14,965 thus far," he said in a statement here.

He said the number of ILI patients still warded at hospitals nationwide stood at 508, 51 or 10 per cent of whom were confirmed positive for A (H1N1).

Dr Mohd Ismail said the total number of ILI patients still being treated at intensive care units (ICUs) was nine and that all were individuals in the high risk group.

"No new deaths because of inluenze H1NI have been reported making the total fatalities due to the disase to remain at 88.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 (Bernama) -- Eighteen new cases of Influenza A(H1N1) were confirmed over 24 hours up to yesterday evening, taking the total number of cumulative cases to 14,987 so far, Director-General of Health Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said today.

There were no deaths and the death toll stood at 88, he added.

He said the Health Ministry received one report of a cluster incident of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) in Penang and all the cases had been administered anti-viral treatment and treated as outpatients.

"The number of active cluster cases nationwide stands at 43," he said in a statement.

Dr Mohd Ismail said the number of ILI cases under treatment in hospitals throughout the country was 502, of which 51 cases or 10.2 per cent were confirmed as Influenza A(H1N1).

Ten of the H1N1 cases, under intensive care, were individuals in the risk category, he said.

Dr Mohd Ismail advised the public to be on the alert and adopt control and preventive measures as Influenza (H1N1) was still active in many countries.

The latest information on the Influenza A(H1N1) virus as well as preventive measures can be obtained from the websites, http://www.moh.gov.my and http://h1n1.moh.gov.my or by contacting the Health Ministry at 03-8881 0200 / 0300.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 (Bernama) -- Thirty-two new cases of Influenza A(H1N1) were confirmed over the 24 hours up to Wednesday evening, taking the total number of cumulative cases to 15,019 so far, Director-General of Health Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said Thursday.

He said no deaths were reported during the period and the death toll stood at 88.

No new Influenza-like Illness (ILI) clusters were reported during the period, and the number of active ILI clusters remained at 40, he said in a statement.

Dr Mohd Ismail said the number of ILI cases under treatment in hospitals nationwide was 475, and 40 of them or 8.4 per cent were confirmed to be suffering from Influenza A(H1N1).

Eight of the H1N1 cases were in intensive care and six of them were individuals in the risk category, he said.
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Finance Ministry officer undergoing commando-style training dies in hospital
BERNAMA
Monday, May 31st, 2010 16:18:00
KLANG: A diplomatic administrative officer with the Finance Ministry in Putrajaya, who was on a commando-style training programme, passed away at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR) here at 6.40am Monday.

Norhashimah Wahid, 31, who was undergoing a team-building and commando-training module under the Special Air Force Team near the Jugra Training Camp in Banting since May 23, was initially admitted at the Banting Hospital after encountering breathing problems on Friday.

She remained unconscious and was later transferred to HTAR when her condition worsened.

Her mother-in-law Zainon Hassan Jaffari, 58, said based on the medical report from HTAR where she was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) three days ago, Norhashimah died of severe pneumonia with multi organ failure.

"We accept her fate but we are very disappointed with the way her case was handled by those responsible. We are also disappointed that none of those who organised the course had come forward to meet us since the day she was admitted to the hospital," she said when met at HTAR.

Norhashimah leaves behind husband Ahmad Zuhairi Zainal Abidin and a two-year-old daughter, Nor Hylda Dania.

Zainon said Norhashimah's body would be taken to her mother's house in Taman Keramat and buried at the Taman Keramat Muslim cemetery after Asar prayers today.

She added that her family would also lodge a police report soon.

"Since she was ill, she should have been excused instead of forcing her to continue. Such action was inhuman. What is something happens to their own family," lamented Zainon.

On Sunday, it was reported that a diplomatic administrative officer from the Finance Ministry who was undergoing a team-building course by Institut Tadbiran Awam Negara (INTAN) had initially been admitted to the Banting Hospital at 5am on Friday after complaining of breathing problems.

According to her brother-in-law, Zakir Hussain, 41, when training had started, Norhashimah had told her friends that she was having fever and visited a clinic in Banting to receive treatment.

Meanwhile, Royal Malaysian Air Forces camp commandant at Jugra base Col. Mohamed Nazri Bashah when contacted said RMAF were not involved in the training programme as claimed by some.

"The training is conducted by Pusat Latihan Penguatkuasa Selangor which has such facilities at a training academy in Jugra, Banting," he said.

Mohamed Nazri said he was informed that two trainers at the centre were ex-RMAF officers who were attached to RMAF Special Unit (PASKAU).

"We are not at all involved in any such training, inside or outside the camp," he said.

For the week epid 25/2010 (20 to 26 June 2010), five (5) Inclusion in the new cluster incident was reported from four (4) states as shown in Appendix 1 attached. In the previous week, a total of seven (7) creation of clusters have been reported.

In the same week, a total of 610 new patients with symptoms of Influenza-Like Illness (Inclusion) has been admitted to hospital for treatment as compared to 586 patients in the previous week, a slight increase of 4.0%. Inclusion in the remaining cases are still being treated across the country on the last day of epid week 25/2010 (June 26, 2010) is of 427 cases in 72 hospitals including 12 private hospitals. Of these, only 31 patients or 7.3% were cases of Influenza A (H1N1) is confirmed by laboratory tests. For the record, there are five (5) H1N1 cases treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and four (4) of the individuals who have risk factors.

The number of confirmed cases of influenza A (H1N1) in the same week of 60 cases compared to a total of 81 cases in the previous week, a decline of 25.9%, bringing the cumulative number of positive cases of influenza A (H1N1) is 15.212. A new death was reported, bringing the total death cases were 89 cases. The case involved the death of a boy aged three years from Johor with growth problems (global developmental delay secondary to chromosomal anomaly). Results of expert reports and laboratory results confirm that the cause of death is caused by the H1N1 Bronchopneumonia with Ards and myocarditis.

In the meantime, until June 25, 2010, the total H1N1 vaccine recipients is about 354.482 people: namely, 97.272 people are front line staff MOH, 90.883 persons are not members of the task before the Ministry of Health (such as the Police, ATM, BOMBA, Immigration, etc.) and 166.327 of the public from the target group berkeutamaan.

Ministry to urge the public to have risk factors such as pregnant women, obesity, chronic diseases (such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease, kidney and others), for H1N1 vaccines from the Ministry of Health facilities are offered. The balance of the remaining doses of vaccine is about 20,000 doses throughout the country and especially the nearly 10,000 doses remaining in the state of Johor. H1N1 vaccines are also available from private facilities that offer the most current seasonal influenza vaccine......

KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 (Bernama) -- A total of five cluster cases of influenza like illness (ILI), involving 821 people, were reported in Kedah, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang last week, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said.

He said 19 of them were confirmed H1N1 positive and had been given antiviral and symptomatic treatment as outpatients in hospitals nationwide.

The number of H1N1 positive cases dropped by 30 per cent to 42 cases last week from 60 cases during the previous week, he said in a statement Wednesday.

He said the accumulated number of H1N1 positive cases reported in the country so far was 15,254 cases with the death toll still at 89.

The number of new cases admitted to hospitals due to ILI also dropped last week to 610 people from 608 patients the previous week, he added.

As of last Saturday, he said, 390 patients with ILI were still at 69 hospitals, including 14 private hospitals, with 35 of the patients (nine per cent) were cases confirmed through laboratory tests.

Ten of the 35 patients were in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and six of them were in the high risk group.

Dr Ismail said that until last Monday, 95.1 per cent of the vaccine vials had been utilised to vaccinate 359,746 people.

Most states have or almost ran out of the H1N1 vaccine, except Johor, which still have about 9,000 vaccine doses, he added.

Wednesday July 14, 2010

Ministry doing all it can to check spread of H1N1


I REFER to the letter “Too little done to prevent the spread of H1N1” (The Star, July 2).

The Health Ministry conducted investigations and found several statements in the letter about half of the staff in a private hospital in the Klang Valley being tested positive for H1N1 and several patients getting infected after being admitted as well as two deaths to be inaccurate.

On June 10, the ministry received notification of one death involving a patient who was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a private hospital. A review by medical experts confirmed that the direct cause of death was not due to H1N1 even though the PCR test was positive on May 31. There was no other report of H1N1 related deaths from the hospital.

On June 28, the ministry received information about an influenza like illness (ILI) cluster occurring in the private hospital. Case investigation and active case detection was conducted immediately on the same day. It was found that one of the hospital’s staff working in the ICU where the deceased was treated was found to be positive of H1N1 on June 18, eight days after the patient died.

Subsequent screening of the staff found that altogether 16 were found to be positive for H1N1. All of the affected staff were given anti-viral treatment and medical leave and their conditions are stable. The last case from this cluster was detected on June 25. The management has since conducted daily temperature screening of the staff. We have not received reports of patients being infected after admission in the hospital in this cluster.

Currently, the transmission of pandemic H1N1 is already in the community in Malaysia as well as globally.

The Ministry has in place standard protocol related to the prevention and control measures of H1N1 at various phases of the pandemic. Our efforts to control the pandemic have been acknowledged by the World Health Organisation.

The Ministry has always been transparent in reporting new H1N1 cases and clusters in its regular weekly press statements which are posted on our website. The allegation about a cover up is baseless as this cluster was reported in the epidemiological week from June 27 to July 3, and will be incorporated in the press statement for the week.

Medical practitioners and the general public are encouraged to obtain information on the current H1N1 situation as well as the preventive measures taken to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus through the dedicated website http://h1n1.moh.gov.my or call the hotline (03-88810200 or 03-88810300).

TAN SRI DR ISMAIL MERICAN,
Director-General of Health.