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SINGAPORE: Influenza A(H1N1)-related fatalities in Singapore rose to five when a woman, who also had acute myeloid leukaemia, died on Monday.
The 34-year-old Chinese woman was admitted to the Singapore General Hospital on July 17 after two days of cough. She was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on July 19 because of low oxygen saturation.
She passed away on Monday morning and the cause of death is pneumonia, with Influenza A (H1N1) infection as a contributing factor, said a Ministry of Health statement.
Meanwhile, four more H1N1 patients were admitted into ICU.
One of them was a 9-year-old Chinese girl who had been warded in the National University Hospital (NUH) since June for treatment of encephalitis. She has a history of cerebral palsy, quadriplegia and hypothyroidism.
She was transferred to the Pediatric ICU on July 25 for respiratory distress. Laboratory tests confirmed she has Influenza A (H1N1). She is on ventilator support and her condition is stable.
The second case was a 23-year-old Malay man who had a history of epileptic fits. He developed high fever, drowsiness and seizures on July 25, and was admitted directly from the Emergency Department to the ICU on July 26. Laboratory tests confirmed he has Influenza A (H1N1). His condition is stable.
The third patient was a 29-year-old Indian woman with no previous medical history. She sought treatment at Changi General Hospital (CGH) Emergency Department on July 25 after two days of fever, cough and chest discomfort.
She was admitted to the ICU on July 26. Laboratory tests confirmed she has Influenza A(H1N1). She is on ventilator support and her condition is stable.
The fourth patient admitted into ICU was a 34-year-old Chinese man with a history of Down's syndrome. He sought treatment at CGH's Emergency Department on July 23 after two weeks of cough, sore throat and fever.
He developed bilateral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome, and was transferred to the ICU on July 26. Laboratory tests confirmed he has Influenza A(H1N1). He is on ventilator support and is on the dangerously ill list.
The executive director of the Genome Institute of Singapore, Professor Edison Liu, said fatalities are likely to increase as the flu cycle continues. But it would make no sense to invest in H1N1 vaccine research in Singapore because pharmaceutical companies have almost developed one.
He said: "It makes no sense for us to invest in vaccine research here in Singapore because a vaccine is almost ready in the next few months. That will be a complete waste of money to try and do that. There is an existing process in generating a flu vaccine, the machine is already initiated and we will get some vaccines.
"Having said that, a very important part of what we need to do is to examine whether the vaccines work in all people, because this will give us significant clues on who to vaccinate, how we should vaccinate, what is the optimum vaccination protocol."
- CNA/ir
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