Pregnant woman dies of H1N1

The Terengganu health department director denies the outbreak is worsening in the state.

KUALA TERENGGANU: The Terengganu health department has confirmed that a pregnant woman has died of Influenza A virus (H1N1), as circulated on social media recently.

State health department director Dr Mohammad Omar, however, denied that the outbreak was worsening in the state.

“The woman was admitted to hospital on April 7 after suffering from fever for a week.

“She went to a private hospital before being referred to the government hospital here and was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). There was a positive improvement at first but she died on April 13.

“Among the groups at risk of contracting this disease are pregnant women, children, the elderly, and those with chronic diseases, such as diabetes,” he told a press conference here last night.

Mohammad urged the public not to panic about the virus as the disease had been categorised as seasonal influenza since 2013 and no longer needed to be reported to the health ministry.

“The disease has been categorised as a common cold and, perhaps, there are those who were infected by H1N1 but considered it as a common cold, except for certain cases where complications arose.

“Prior to 2013, there were only 27 cases, namely in Sarawak, and now on average, we have 10 cases of suspected H1N1 every month and the majority of them would recover and return to normal after being referred to a specialist.

“My advice is if they have any of the symptoms, then they should not mix with outsiders.

“Do not go out in the open and always use a sanitizer and face masks and if the cough worsens, please go directly to the hospital, ” he said. -FMT