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Colombia confirms first
death, Mexico toll rises to 108
BOGOTA: Colombia has confirmed
its first death from the A(H1N1) flu
virus which has killed more than
140 people across the world, local
authorities said on Tuesday.
The victim was a woman, 24,
from a poor Bogota neighbour-
hood, who died on Friday while
hospitalised in the capital, Social
Protection Minister Diego Palacio
and health officials told report-
ers.
Colombia now has 34 con-
firmed cases of the virus, most
of whom recently returned from
overseas travel.
In Mexico City, the health
ministry said Mexico’s swine flu
death toll rose by two to 108
on Tuesday, with more than 500
cases confirmed, bringing the
total infections to 6,133.
The ministry, however, in-
sisted the virus was still on the
decline.
“It’s important to point out
that there are very few recent
new cases,” a statement by the
ministry said.
Almost 52% of cases were
women, and more than 70% were
between 20 and 54 years old, the
ministry said.
All of Mexico’s 32 states have
registered A(H1N1) flu cases, with
most in the sprawling capital of
Mexico City.
The country is struggling to
recover after the epidemic struck
its crisis-hit economy in April,
when tourists fled and many
businesses shut down.
The World Health Organisation
earlier Tuesday said the world
was getting “very, very close” to
a swine flu pandemic. – AFP
PKR to
directly
Two new cases of H1N1
bring total to nine
elect
leaders
pg 6
by Husna Yusop
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has
reported two new cases of in-
fluenza A(H1N1) – a 17-year-old
American student and 52-year-
old New Zealand citizen, both
women – making it nine cases
altogether. All these are “im-
ported” cases.
Following this, the Health
Ministry is tracing 340 fellow
travellers of the American stu-
dent, comprising passengers and
crew members of Malaysia Air-
lines’ flight MH091 from Newark
to Kuala Lumpur, which arrived
here at 6.30am on Monday.
At the same time, it is also
identifying 20 contacts of the
New Zealander – passengers of
a tourist bus and staff of Holiday
Inn Hotel in Penang, Health
Director-General Tan Sri Ismail
Merican said yesterday.
“The student came here for
holiday with her parents and was
detected by the thermoscanner
at the airport for fever. She was
referred to Tuanku Jaafar Hospi-
tal in Seremban and admitted for
further treatment at 10.51am the
same day (Monday),” he said.
“Further investigation found
that she had fever 10 days before
coming here but both her par-
ents were healthy. The parents
are under home quarantine
while she is receiving antiviral
treatment,” Ismail told a press
conference.
The second case was one
of the contacts of a previous
positive case who had arrived
in Malaysia at 7.30am on Friday
via AirAsia flight DX7 2723 from
Melbourne.
Ismail said the woman con-
tinued her journey to Penang by
MAS flight MH1138 at 9.15am
and arrived there at 10.15am
before taking a taxi to the hotel,
where she checked in at 1pm.
“While on the island, she met
a friend and went for a tour on
a tourist bus. The next day, she
was put under quarantine from
4.15pm after being identified as
a contact of a previous case,” he
said.
“She began to develop fever,
cough and muscle ache at 11pm
and contacted the nearby health
office at 9am the next day.”
She was taken to Penang
Avoid these four traditional
products, says ministry
KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Min-
istry has advised the public to avoid
buying or using four traditional
products that contain sibutramine,
aminotadalafil, diphenhydramine
and paracetamol.
The director of the ministry’s
pharmacy services division, Eisah
Abdul Rahman, said yesterday the
four products were Bodybeaus,
Jinglida, Eng Leong Cordyceps
Chuanbei Plus Cough Pill 3.m,
and Loong Choo Brand Reh Bih
Ho Herbal Tea.
“Their product registration has
been cancelled by the Drug Con-
trol Authority (DCA) at the 216th
DCA meeting because they were
detected to contain ingredients
that are not allowed to be formu-
lated in a traditional product,” she
said in a statement here.
Eisah said there are phar-
maceutical products containing
sibutramine, tadalafil, diphenhy-
dramine and paracetamol that are
registered with the DCA.
These products have been
evaluated for their safety, efficacy
and quality.
“However, these products, ex-
cept paracetamol, can only be sup-
plied by doctors and pharmacists.
The use of these products without
proper diagnosis and monitoring
by a doctor can cause serious
adverse effects such as high blood
| THURSDAY JUNE 11 2009
A(H1N1)
ZA
INFLUEN
HO
TLINE
03
00
-8
Hospital 881 00/3
02
in a special
ambulance for
further treatment and is in stable
condition and receiving antiviral
treatment.
Apart from the two cases, 36
notifications were received by
hospitals nationwide. Of these,
31 were confirmed negative and
the others have yet to receive
their results. As at Tuesday, the
cumulative cases were at 553
(539 negative, nine positive and
five awaiting results).
Two hundred and four con-
tacts of previous cases are under
home quarantine.
As of 8am yesterday, the
World Health Organisation
reported 25,586 cases with 139
deaths from 73 countries – an
increase of 80 cases from the
previous day.
Ismail also said that beginning
today, the ministry will introduce
new screening procedures at the
airport to ease the inconvenience
faced by the people.
It affects those detected as
having fever by the thermoscan-
ner but do not come from coun-
tries with local transmissions or
countries actively reporting new
cases and do not have pneumo-
nia symptoms.
“Currently, the procedure is,
they will be sent to the hospitals
immediately but from tomor-
row, we will do the throat swab
for them at the airports or entry
points,” he said.
“Then, we will counsel them,
provide them with masks and
tell them that they can go home
but must quarantine themselves.
Then, we will give them the re-
sult (swab test) within 24 hours
and tell them whether they are
infected or not.”
pressure and other cardiovascular
effects (sibutramine). Tadalafil or
its analogs can cause low blood
pressure and other cardiovascular
effects,” she said.
“The use of diphenhydramine
without control may cause the
user to suffer low blood pressure,
cardiovascular effects, sedation,
tiredness, disturbed coordination,
confusion and blurred vision.”
Eisah said paracetamol can be
used for self-medication but when
the traditional product does not
declare its paracetamol content,
a user who is already using para-
cetamol may be taking excessive
doses which is toxic to the liver.
“Since the quality and safety of
these products that are available
in the market is not guaranteed
by DCA, the public is advised to
avoid these products. Sellers are
reminded that possession for sale
of these products is an offence
under the Control of Drugs and
Cosmetics Regulations 1984,”
she said.
Anyone who commits an
offence under these regulations
can be fined up to RM25,000 or be
jailed up to three years or both for
the first offence. A company found
guilty can be fined up to RM50,000
for the first offence and fined up
to RM100,000 for subsequent of-
fence. – Bernama