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.

Merlion Hit by Lightning

According to news reports, the iconic Singapore Merlion was hit by lightning during a heavy rain spell yesterday afternoon.

Straits Times picture.

According to witnesses, the lightning bolt was seen to strike the Merlion's mane and sent debris flying all over.

The Merlion was shifted to its current location from the mouth of the Singapore River and remains an important aspect of Singapore's identity.

Looks like nature is fair and square and has no qualms about striking anything in its path. Now the Merlion is undergoing repair works as reported on the news just now on Channel 8.

Interesting gossip on the China Fuwa

I hope the China government doesn't hit on my blog here but there is a piece of interesting news that I chanced upon during my web surfing.

Click here to go to the website. Reuters Oddly Enough reported that the Chinese netizens have been abuzz about the upcoming Olympics' Fuwa mascots in relation to the recent calamities in China.

Quote from the article explained in details about the curse of the Fuwa:

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After a devastating earthquake struck Sichuan province last month, Internet users tied four of the five "Fuwa" mascots to the calamities that have struck China in the run-up to the Games, which begin in August. One Fuwa is a panda, the totem of Sichuan.

The others resemble a torch, reminding netizens of the protests against the international Olympic torch rally; a Tibetan antelope tied to widespead demonstrations in Tibetan areas; and a swallow that looks like a kite, linked to a deadly train crash in Shandong province.

The final Fuwa, sporting a fish, was left unexplained in the original superstition as a curse yet to come.

Unexplained, that is, until widespread flooding in southern and central China claimed dozens of lives in June.

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Whether all these so-called are true remains to be seen. However the netizens are strongly believing in these curses more than anything else. For me, it's just another piece of interesting news, or gossip. =D

Mystery Murder?

This news report from Reuters' Oddly Enough is certainly an intriguing one.

Severed body parts, specifically that of the foot, had been found awashed the coastline of Canada's Pacific coast, mystifying the local police there.

Apparently, they have already done some DNA tests in order to match victims but so far results have been inconclusive. This is certainly interesting as normally a murderer would also chop up the other body parts and set them in various locations.

Yet so far a 4th foot had been found with no further body parts being sighted anywhere else. Does this mean that the crime perpetrator had only chopped off the feet but still leaving the victims alive? Or perhaps it is simply just a tactic of the perpetrator to confuse the local police and the residents living there. The feet might be a clue to a more gruesome truth which none of us might want to find out.

This case is very interesting indeed. Let's wait and see if there's any further new finds from the local police.

Who knows, it might turn out to be as sensational as those crime plots of Agatha Christie's Poirot and Miss Maple stories, who are my favourite characters as well as my favourite crime author. =D

Only time will tell.