by Mizzima News
Thursday, 06 August 2009 14:16
New Delhi (Mizzima) - With yet another person detected with the A (H1N1) virus, the number of human infection cases in Burma, has risen to 14, according to a state run newspaper.
The New Light of Myanmar, the government’s mouthpiece, on Thursday said another person a 17-year-old youth, who arrived from Singapore on August 1, was admitted to the Rangoon East Hospital on August 4, after the township health department detected him suffering from fever.
After a diagnosis, the National Health Laboratory declared that the boy was infected with the A (H1N1) virus, taking the total of those infected to 14.
According to the newspaper, authorities have quarantined 18 family members of the boy at home, and are monitoring their condition to find out if they have also been infected.
The first human case was detected in Burma on June 27, in a 13-year-old girl, who showed symptoms of the disease, after coming back home from Singapore a day earlier.
The newspaper also said the National Health Laboratory had so far detected 131 people, suspected of the disease, but only 14 were found to have been infected with the virus. However, out of the 14 patients, the newspaper said nine have been discharged from hospital after recovering from the flu.
The newspaper claims that so far the government has conducted medical checks on over 2 million people at airports, ports and border check points and examined those suspected of the disease, since the outbreak of Swine Flu in Mexico on April 28.
However, since Burma shares a porous border with Thailand, where the flu has killed 81 people, medical experts fear that a number of infected people crossing the border might have gone unnoticed.
Critics are of the opinion, that with the lack of a proper public health system in Burma, the number of detected cases might just be the tip of the iceberg.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
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