H1N1 Virus -- Here Already......

I'm relieved to know that the woman passenger of flight MH091 who was quarantined at the Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) in Johor Baru Sunday afternoon after she developed a fever was tested negative for H1N1 virus.

It's also good news that the two Malaysians who were confirmed to have the flu after they returned from the US on May 13, are in stable condition.

And the Health Ministry says there are no new confirmed cases.

Here's the NST report today:

Eighty-six people, including 17 foreigners, who could be infected with the influenza A (H1N1) virus are still on the "loose" in the country or may have even flown to other countries, despite widespread media coverage for them to report for medical check-ups. It has been six days since these people, who flew in from the United States on a MAS flight (MH091) or boarded an AirAsia flight with two confirmed influenza patients have gone "missing".

The Health Ministry is desperate to contact them to ensure the "imported" disease does not spread in the country.

Health deputy director-general Datuk Dr Ramlee Rahmat said identities of the foreigners who could not be traced had been given to the World Health Organisation.

He said should there be no new cases recorded by May 20 (the end of the quarantine period), Malaysia could declare itself free from the threat of the virus, locally.
The flu virus was detected in two Malaysians who returned from the US on Malaysia Airlines flight MH091 on May 13.

The ministry widened the search for potential patients as one of them boarded an AirAsia flight, AK5358, on the same day to Penang where she was later warded.

The woman is reported to be healthy, while the 21-year-old man who has been warded in Sungai Buloh Hospital is still down with fever.

Dr Ramlee urged the passengers on the flights who had yet to come forward to call 03-88810200 / 03-88103000.

On Sunday, health officers screened 6,617 people who came into the country and detected one suspected case at the KLIA, who was sent to the Sungai Buloh Hospital but was found to be negative for the virus.

The ministry has to date quarantined 111 people classified as primary cases.

The number does not include their family members and those they had been in contact with.

All of them except for the two confirmed cases tested negative for the virus.

Dr Ramlee said as the WHO had yet to issue any travel advisory, Malaysians including students studying overseas were free to come and go out of the country.

All that said, it is good news... so far.
But we know that there are those other passengers on the two flights who have not reported to the health officers. And multiply that by the number of people they have come into contact with....and so on and so forth. Scary, isn't it?

I'm going to stop talking about it right here because as my buddy, Shamsul, rationalizes -- "there's nothing you can do about it except take the necessary precautions, so stop worrying!".

So stop worrying. What's the point, right?

But...aaah, to think that just two weeks ago, the Swine Flu, -- whoops, Influenza A or the H1N1 virus -- was way yonder in far far Mexico.

Before you could say la Cucaracha, it flu to the US, Canada......and now it's here.

Sometimes we forget that we are in the 21st century. Everything travels very very fast. Everything!

My imagination is so fertile as I am remembering a movie (or two) about the spread of a deadly virus on mother earth....

Life imitating art.....