| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
SINGAPORE: Singapore's first H1N1 case is a 22-year-old student from the Singapore Management University (SMU).
She is a third-year Business Management student at SMU. She was on its New York Business Study Mission with 19 other students and a faculty member from May 14-24.
SMU said she returned to Singapore on May 26 early morning with the faculty member and another student. She went to see a doctor as she felt unwell during the flight.
She informed the university on May 27 when she found out she was tested positive.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said a fellow student and a professor who travelled with her, along with a friend who met her at the airport and the family maid, have also been quarantined as a precautionary measure.
They will continue to monitor their health and take temperature checks twice daily.
SMU has contacted the remaining 17 students who are still in New York.
Meanwhile, most of the other students in New York have taken the H1N1 flu test and are doing fine. One other student had come back alone earlier and is doing fine.
The man who sat next to the H1N1 victim was the faculty member in charge of her group.
Mark Chong, associate professor, Corporate Communications Practice, said: "Every morning at breakfast, I made it a point to take their temperature and during the trip, no one had reported any unusual temperature. I've spoken to several of the students who are still in North America and they were concerned about the health of their fellow classmate. They've done the responsible thing, and gone to a doctor for a check up themselves."
The patient is now recovering in Tan Tock Seng Hospital and has not been back on campus since returning from New York. SMU is in close touch with her.
When contacted by Channel NewsAsia, the student sounded tired on the phone, saying she would prefer not to be interviewed at this time.
Mr Khaw said: "The doctors told me that she has no other underlying medical conditions so I think like most other patients elsewhere... her recovery should be uneventful, but we will see how things go."
Associate Professor Leo Yee Sin, clinical director, Communicable Disease Centre, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said: "We will be keeping her for daily nasal and throat swabs until it's proven to be negative, before we discharge her. At this point, she behaves like a common influenza in a young individual. I anticipate that this is going to be an uncomplicated case."
The SMU student passed the thermal scanner at the airport because she was not feverish but consulted a doctor later in the day and was referred to a hospital that handles suspected H1N1 flu cases.
The ministry said she was admitted for tests, which confirmed she was suffering from A(H1N1).
Mr Khaw said the risks of a spread of the virus to others in the city-state was low as the student was isolated within six hours of her arrival. "There really should be no cause for alarm, especially in this case - the patient has been most responsible," Khaw said.
He said officials were now trying to track up to 60 people who had come in close contact with her on the plane, some of whom left the city-state on connecting flights.
The health ministry urged passengers who had travelled in the same flight and were seated in rows 52 to 58 to call the hotline at 1800- 333 9999. -AFP/CNA/vm
|
