H1N1 Influenza A Hits Malaysia

Now the recent H1N1 influenza A has reached much closer to home, with Malaysia reporting its first case about 2 hours ago.

A 21 years old male student who had just returned on a trip from the United States on 13 May had fallen ill yesterday. Laboratory tests confirmed that it was the H1N1 flu virus that caused the illness.

With that, Singapore is now going to be more alert in its fight against the flu virus as so far no cases have been reported yet. But with the virus hitting so close, it would only be a matter of time before the virus finally hit us since Malaysia is only a river away from us.

However I believe we can and are able to fight against the virus as we have already been well-prepared when the virus first struck in Mexico.

We just have to be more vigilant in our stringent screenings of patients who visit GPs and travellers who have just returned from affected countries. So far 33 countries have reported cases of the virus striking but the fatality is only about 65, most of them in Mexico.

That means the virus is highly contagious but is not life-threatening at this stage. Oh well, after the SARS episode, companies are much more aware of the health situations around the world. My company is no exception either and we have purchased many medical stuffs to stock up as well as for our frontline clinical staffs' usage.

Now all we can do is wait for more news from WHO to track the progress of the virus.