PUTRAJAYA: Four students from a boarding school in Ipoh have been recently diagnosed with Influenza A (H1N1).
Three of them received outpatient treatment and the fourth patient, who had to be warded, has since been discharged.
Another 97 students and a teacher from the same school have been diagnosed with ordinary viral infection, otherwise known as viral upper respiratory infection, Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye told theSun today.
He gave an assurance that “the situation is under control”.
Lee pointed out that not everyone diagnosed with the Influenza A virus had to be admitted to the hospital.
“Only those who are considered high risk such as pregnant women, young children and old folk, as well as those with heart of lung disease will have to stay in hospital,“ he said.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad earlier dismissed claims that the students were suffering from a mysterious disease as viralled in social media postings. He confirmed that only four of them had H1N1.
“One of them has been discharged and is healthy,“ he said in a press conference after launching the 2019 Nutrition Month here today.
The Influenza A strain made its first appearance in 2009 and spread quickly around the world, causing what is now referred to as the N1N1 Pandemic. It is now firmly entrenched in the human population and appears seasonally as a flu virus. It is no longer considered to be a pandemic.
The various strains of the flu virus — A, B and C — appear every year. It spreads through sneezing, coughing or touching of contaminated surfaces.
These strains of the flu usually cause only mild illnesses but in high risk individuals, it could lead to death.
Seasonal flu viruses evolve continuously so it is possible to be infected multiple times throughout one’s life.
There is still no specific treatment for the flu. Only symptomatic treatments are available.
