The A (H1N1) flu death toll in Malaysia has climbed to 62 with another three fatalities with the daily increase of 283 cases to total 3,857 cases in the country.
On the international front, South Korea and Japan have confirmed their first A (H1N1) death.
The first South-Korea death is a 56-year-old man who returned from a visit to Thailand while the first Japanese death, a man in his fifties, had apparently not been overseas.
The H1N1 flu outbreak, declared a pandemic in June, has spread around the world and could eventually affect 2 billion people, according to World Health Organisation estimates.
The virus has killed more than 800 people worldwide since emerging in April.
For the first time, the Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has admitted that A (H1N1) virus could affect five million Malaysians, based on the WHO estimate that that if 20% of Malaysia’s 27.7 million or 5.5 million are at risk and exposed to the virus.
This report was given prominent treatment in some local media which should help in creating greater public alert and vigilance against the killer pandemic.
The question is why Liow had not taken the first opportunity to warn Malaysians of this worst-scene WHO scenario, when the National Influenza Pandemic Task Force was first informed of this possible scenario by Dr Tee Ah Sian, WHO director of communicable diseases some three weeks ago on July 27.
I had asked Liow on July 31 to respond to this WHO worst-scene scenario but the Health Minister chose to keep his silence – when his prompt communication of this scenario might have helped to create greater national awareness and vigilance with a reduced number of the number of cases and fatalities which have occurred so far.
In this connection, the concerns expressed in a letter to Malaysiakini by Professor Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Rasdi warrant prompt response from the Health Minister, viz:
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The callous attitude of the Minister for Information, Communication and Culture Datuk Seri Rais Yatim who had said that Malaysians should not be alarmed or be an alarmist because Britain had 350 deaths and they did not “panic” or “raise the alarm”; and
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The official line reflected in the media reporting that suggests that only a certain “high risk” group is susceptible to end up fatally.
An important element of the strategy in the war against A (H1N1) flu killer pandemic is to have a special unit which responds to public concerns which appear in the public domain but which seems to be woefully non-existent in Malaysia despite the WHO declaration of a pandemic in June.
You all already know CHLORINE DIOXIDE safe, cheap and more important can destroy the H1N1 virus, but don’t want to use, at least for yourselves. Who to blame?
Here is the ranking of fatality rates caused by A(H1N1) for the affected countries:
1st – US (436 deaths)
2nd – Agentina (404 deaths)
3rd – Brazil (192 deaths)
4th – Mexico (163 deaths)
5th – Chile (105 deaths)
6th – Australia (102 deaths)
7th – Thailand (97 deaths)
8th – Canada (66 deaths)
9th – Malaysia (59 deaths)
Data published in China Press 16/8/2009.
Here are the rankings of fatality rates caused by A(H1N1) for the affected countries:
1st – US (436 deaths)
2nd – Agentina (404 deaths)
3rd – Brazil (192 deaths)
4th – Mexico (163 deaths)
5th – Chile (105 deaths)
6th – Australia (102 deaths)
7th – Thailand (97 deaths)
8th – Canada (66 deaths)
9th – Malaysia (59 deaths)
Data published in China Press 16/8/2009.
Pakatan Rakyat’s cabinet committee in the MOH must spring into action, Dr. Lee Boon Chye, Dr. Mohd Hayati Othman and Dr Tan Seng Giaw must prove to the Rakyat they are prepared to tackle H1N1 crisis should the government failed to do so.
If I am Health Minister, I just look at what Singapore do and copy blindly. No headache, LOL.
/The official line reflected in the media reporting that suggests that only a certain “high risk” group is susceptible to end up fatally.//
Who is this “high risk” group? Please be more specific. China and India have a combined population of 2.4 billion but their total fatalities are less than that of Malaysia
See I told you, LKS only is ‘elated’ everytime there is a new death which gave him opportunity to attack the gov. He has nothing new to contribute at all beside repeating the statistic. He is not even coming out with his expert recommendation.
ekompute, the bloody Minister of Hell is so bloody proud that he can fix it by himself instead of copying exact of what our neighbour is doing. The very basic and fundamental things that he needs to do is to expand the Examination Center so that we can differentiate the differnece between a normal flu and the deadly H1N1. Only 22 centers are selected throughout the country. Does this good enough ????? He is now hidding inside his cosy minister office and not dare to walk into the hospital daily to see what is going on.
Aiyoohhhhhhhh, you ar! Ask him to go to hospital and end up contracting H1N1 himself?
The average Singaporean looks down on Malaysians. I used to detest that. But come to think of it, we cannot blame them as they have very good reasons to think that we are really hopeless and useless. Singapore as a nation, as LKY said (just before its separation from Malaysia), is an absurdity in every sense of the word: no land (just a piece of pi sai, as Taiwan called it), no natural resources, not even drinking water. But 50 years down the road, they have proven to be far, far ahead of us in every sense of the word (even their dismal human rights records appears to look good, when placed side by side with ours) and we have rubber, oil palm, forest, minerals, and even petroleum.
So since we oledi no face, why not just ride on them. They do all the research, hold meetings one after another till late into the night, and bear all the expenses for finding a solution, while we go and sleep soundly. Once they claim that they have found a solution, we quickly send a delegation over to learn from them. In the meantime, we can even claim that we are working very closely with our Singaporean counterparts. Yes, Ali Baba style, a style that we have perfected into an art form, LOL.
“For the first time, the Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has admitted that A (H1N1) virus could affect five million Malaysians, based on the WHO estimate that that if 20% of Malaysia’s 27.7 million or 5.5 million are at risk and exposed to the virus.” (Kit)
I just had a conversation with a specialist doctor not long ago and he commented that 62 death toll is nothing as compared to the number of deceased who died in heart attack everyday, that could be a few thousand people a day in Malaysia. Nevertheless, you are right in calling for MoH’s attention on H1N1 pandemic because this pandemic, if left uncontrolled, may cause a great loss in workers’ productivity and loss in foreign exchange due to high import costs for anti-flu medicines.
Assume that 5.5 million Malaysian people will consult a family doctor due to H1N1 infection and assume that each of the H1N1 patients will spend RM40 for the first medical consultation and treatment. The total medical expenditures in relation to H1N1 infection can be worked out as follow:
RM40 per person X 5,500,000 persons giving
RM220 million of total H1N1 related medical expenditures.
Assume that 50% of the total medical expenditures consists of imported anti-flu medicines. The total loss in foreign exchange can be computed as follows:
RM220 million X 50% = RM110 million loss in foreign exchange due to import of anti-flu medicines.
Further economic losses can be anticipated from the loss in workers’ production productivity due to absence from duty after taking medical leave. So H1N1 pandemic is a serious issue.
Maybe MOH realised that the Malaysian population is climbing too fast, thanks to MMK’s policy
Unsustainable soon – a Malthusian catastrophe in the making
So, one final solution is to let the virus take care of this uncontrolled population growth the natural way
See, MOH is doing a national service, proper management of our national population
Someone mentioned that the little red dot has “not even drinking water”
Really?
The latest news is that it is selling and profiting from water-making technology
Tammy Flu – MYR 187 per strip of 10 tablets.
Somebody is getting rich!
If you really want to protect your friends and family, and you’re not in a high-risk group, my advice is to take a foreign holiday to Mexico or USA or UK, and follow sneezing people around, inhaling deeply. If you can give one a big kiss, all the better. When you develop H1N1, lie down and feel like crap for a few days in your hotel room, ask room service to leave food at the door. When you feel better, enjoy a few days of feeling well, then go to a private doctor and get an ‘all clear note’ and come back. Don’t come back until you’re sure you’ve had H1N1 and recovered! Catching H1N1 in the foreign country’s departure lounge as you leave after failing in your mission would be a disaster, of course.
You’ll be immune. H1N1 needs infected carriers to spread effectively. Just about anything warm and wet can ‘carry’ H1N1 for brief durations, but you really need infected people splashing virus on you to give you a good chance of getting it. If you’ve gone on your ‘H1N1 holiday’, you can be almost certain you won’t be the one to blame for your family and friends catching H1N1.
What?! I think it’s easily as sensible as campaigning for someone to soak Malaysia in bleach for a year.
There are 2 approach:
1) Quickly get infected like what OrangRojak did.
2) Try prevention especally sanitize our hand and enclosed areas, avoid crowded areas, wear masks, social distancing…
Don’t know for sure which option is better? Both options have their followers. In fact, trying option 2 is more difficult than option 1, and I am following option 2.
hey tedpole NCKEAT, what do you expect Bro LKS can do? since you are so smart then why not you help Bro LKS to report. please use your SMART brain to think not to use on shit. what if your parents hit by virus? do you think our MOH will help you? wait long long lah. if u dont believe try to call the NOH hotline, see got anyone pick up your phone? i had call so many times but the answer are still same. no answer. or you can call local GH to get infomation! hahaha only OM there serve.. i went to GH too, end up i waited 45mins. … hahaha b4 go to GH i also call them, according to them GH said, they set up 1 GERAKKAN H1n1 unit. hahaha i reach there it is normal room, n it treat all sickness. 15f x 20f area pack with 100 people. no good air condition.. everyone cough like hell inside. sweat!!!
oh ya.. NCkeat pls try to call M.O.H to order 1 basket of apples or orrange. it might help you to write nonsense comment in here. tedpole!
For those who are interested to know who actually belongs to the “High Risk Group” in terms of exposure to the risk of H1N1 infection, please surf the following website:
http://www.fluology.com/examine-high-risk-groups.html
nckeat on August 16th, 2009 18:51
See I told you, LKS only is ‘elated’ everytime there is a new death which gave him opportunity to attack the gov. He has nothing new to contribute at all beside repeating the statistic. He is not even coming out with his expert recommendation
Sounds very much like a statement from a HP6 government specialist, probably gynecologist in a small time hospital bullying nurses, patients, pregnant mothers and doctors….
Unfortunately this blog doesn’t allow expletives…but with expletives, I would like to ask this fella….
Answer the questionlah…Government in power with all the financial and human resources …why so many mati…
Can do the job well..we will pujilah…this one…public cannot even get Tamiflu for diabetic pregnant mother with severe flu in clinic…How???????…Whose fault?????
This Government’s fault bukan…semua tidur, gaji buta…
Tunggu semua mati ka…
If you cannot do the job, why don’t hand over to LKS and co to do the job. Why the heck he must do the job for you fellas….Unless of course LKS and co willing to work as unpaid employees for BN government
Hello, lunatic…and that too government lunatic if you are one…please go back to bullying your patients and doctors.
You sound like a poor fella who probably graduated from a kampong university like UKM with a tidak apa attitude and don’t mind seeing patients dying…the types that one day become DG of Health and kill even more people….
Liow Tiong Lai was busy running around the country doing party works with his MCA boss OTK trying to fix the deputy prez with another blow job charge… neglected his work. He should commit harakiri for all these deaths caused by his negligence….
“When you develop H1N1, lie down and feel like crap for a few days in your hotel room, ask room service to leave food at the door. When you feel better, enjoy a few days of feeling well, then go to a private doctor and get an ‘all clear note’ and come back.” (OrangRojak)
OrangRojak,
It didn’t make sense for you to encourage the Malaysian people to indulge themselves in self-inflicting H1N1 pathogen infection. If you lie down and feel like crap for a few days in your hotel room at foreign country after being infected with H1N1 virus but refuse to go consult a medical doctor, you will probably never be able to come back to Malaysia! Human beings are still too ignorant and lack of knowledge about H1N1 virus. What makes you think that H1N1 will not kill those who do not fall into the “high risk groups”? You may be over-optimistic to assume that human body can easily develop a natural immune system after several days’ being attacked by H1N1 virus.
In fact, most flu patients will have the symptoms of high fever, sore throat, sometimes having body pain or shivering, lethargy and unable to concentrate on job duty or school assignment. In some serious cases, the diminishing health condition caused by H1N1 may impair the human immune system and cause the human body to be easily attacked by other kinds of pathogens such as harmful bacteria or harmful fungi. Please try not to play a fool with the blog readers here when precious human life is at the stake!
Agree with Onlooker Politics. In fact “strong immune system might be a liability than an asset” – Wikipedia, Cytokine Storm. That’s probabaly why some of the death cases are strong people age 20-40.
Actually Bolehland wants to set all types of record, whether good or dubious, so that they will be noticed by the world.
Ya, you are right, vsp. But it is true that we actually have set a lot of records…
* tallest twin tower in the world, but designed by Argentine-American architect, built by Japanese and Korean contractors… we just pay the money, LOL;
* send an ‘astronaut’ to space (with a responsibility in the voyage that is same as a bus passenger) to help the Russians disburse part of their expenses… not knowing that the Russians had sent Laika, their mongrel dog, to outer space some 50 years earlier in 1957… so no break record, LOL;
* Car of the Year Award (Economy Class) for Proton Saga sometime in 1986 (or 1987)… no mean feat, considering that the Mitsubishi Lancer Fiore on which the Proton was based could not even garner a mention when it was first launched in 1983, LOL;
* tallest flagpost in the world;
* longest kain sarung in the world;
* tallest songkok in the world;
* biggest ondeh-ondeh in the world;
* longest kuih gulung in the world;
Awwww, the list goes on and on. But all these achievements are nothing to UMNO. UMNO wants to be the longest ruling party in the world, the record now standing at 80 years, held by the Institutional Revolutionary Party of Mexico, a country ranking 72 in TI’s corruption perception index, making Malaysia looks like at an angel at 47.
But we don’t have,CIO2, sufficient information to point one’s finger at cytokine storm being a complication in the case of one infected with A(H1N1) according to CDC.More likely pneumonia is the complication involved and this will normally happen to infected people with underlying medical conditions rather than normally healthy people infected with A(H1N1).And pneumonia kills!
Ah Pek, no doubt most cases of death related to pneumonia. But if you check the death rate back in 1918 Spanish Flu, the age group 20 – 40 are at risk in general and we are seeing some real cases now as well. What other possible explainations beside strong immune system? Why are the young and strong also dying? Pls enlighten us.
H1N1 not a problem at the moment,
denggi is.
UMNO no doubt by hook and by crook did the job but since the genius left office in 2003, bunch of clowns just have no clue how to steer the bullock cart!
Aren’t we talking about A(H1N1) and if we are
the disease as compared with other pandemic
such as Asian Flu or Hong kong Flu is considered mild.If we are then the death resulting from A(H1N1) comes mainly from people with medical conditions much less so with healthy ones with no underlying condition.Is that not true CIO2?
I believe we’re not talking about Spanish Flu here which is much more deadly but it has petered out long time ago.
WTF is this idea of imposing a fine of RM10.000 or two years’ jail on a person who is found guilty of NOT following a health guideline, that is to quarantine himself or herself so as not to spread the flu?
How do we arrive at the conclusion that an “infected person” is guilty as hell in this respect? There are so many permutations that it boggles the mind to pinpoint the culprit.
With 62 people already dead and probably more to kick the bucket, who is to blame for spreading the virus in the first place? Who should have taken action much earlier than now to prevent the spread?
Who is passing the buck as we sink deeper into the H1N1 quicksand? If a person is found guilty of spreading the virus, can he or she survive long enough to pay the fine or go to jail – and probably die in there?
Who really has no clue at all? The people or the government? Your guess is as good as mine.
If spreading the flu calls for a hefty fine or a jail term for the guilty person, so too must the Health Ministry be as guilty as hell in helping to spread the virus for not taking concrete action much earlier when H1N1 was just heading towards this country.
On what ethical ground should the common folks “pay the price” for something beyond their control. The NST front page headline “Take care or pay the price” today is a misnomer to say the least when all this while the people’s welfare has not been taken care of.
It insults our senses to read such a headline in a paper that regards certain institutions as belonging to a certain ethnic group. Why should innocent people pay the price? What a stupid and unconscionable headline.
I rest my case.
Hopefully you are right, AhPek, that 2009 pandemic wont resemble 1918 pandemic even though both are A(H1N1). But dont jump into conclusion yet as the whole world is still monitoring whether the virus will mutate comes to winter in northen hemisphere and create the deadly SECOND WAVE. Let’s pray it wont happen.
Yes i agree people with underlying condition are high risk group and should get the priority attention. But dont forget age 20-40 group – Wikipedia, 1918 flu pandemic.
What makes you think that H1N1 will not kill those who do not fall into the “high risk groups”?
I’m a natural gambler, like any other fool. “Not falling into a high risk group” allows me to cross the road to buy hokkien mee when after I check that I’m over 5 years old, under 90 years old, not blind, not drunk, and not a hedgehog (hedgehog? What’s the local equivalent of an animal that often gets squished by cars?)
I think you might have confused yourself when you read ‘having a strong immune system’ into what I wrote. I neither wrote nor implied it. If strong immune system is high risk, then a person with a ‘strong immune system’ would not take my advice and would not seek out H1N1 sufferers in order to naturally acquire their immunity.
Besides, anybody adopting my plan will be “hurting Malaysia’s reputation”. If you’re not in a high-risk group, and you went for an H1N1 holiday, recovered while abroad and came back, you would never be counted in the ‘infected cases’. By acquiring your immunity abroad, you would make the Malaysian fatality rate higher, even though no more people would die.
draken001 asks WTF
That was my reaction when I saw the fine and jail. Most people will go blind after being threatened with jail and fine and stay well away from the bully. That may well have put the ratio of deaths to reports up. If you felt unwell, you wouldn;t want to report it in case you had reported it incorrectly and ended up flying out of a window! If you felt so ill you thought you might die, reporting it might seem worth the risk!
Future news “Swine flu wiped out more than 50 % of Bolehlanders in 2009”
The fact of the matter is whatever the Ministry do or not do one thing is certain and that is H1N1 will get much worse before it gets
better.This is because it is very infectious and all conventional measures of quaranteen, isolation, hygiene etc will not work. Only
two things will work now and that is vaccination and herd immunity. Reports indicate that vaccination will come only at a later date but herd immunity will come first. This is no point causing panic in the community by blaming and exhorting the Ministry for not doing enough. Nothing it does will work. Just let it spread and as more and more people gets it, the population will develops immunity against it. The conventional pneumonia, diabetes, heart disease, asthma and other medical problems kill far more people on a daily basis that
this H1N1. I do not think LKS or whatever team he chooses to organise can do a damn thing more about this issue. I suggest if PR does not have a solution or better suggestion they should stop making fun of the Health Minister and put him in a difficult position.
You want them to shut down the schools, cinemas, manufacturing plants? But for how long. You want the the people to over-react to the condition. How does it benefit them or the country. This flu epidermic will take months if not years to clear. Can the Malaysian
economy be at a stand still for months.Please look to Singapore for guidance if you think we are lacking. Already almost all their
flu cases are H1N1 and people there are taking it rather lightly. Mind you it is not because they are not serious people. It is just
that over-reacting serves no useful purpose. They have tried every damn thing and still fail to stop it from spreading to the community. You think Malaysia get better results even if they do as much or more?
ClO2 asksWhy are the young and strong also dying? Pls enlighten us.
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=431369
Sorry, sorry, already posted that one. A strong immune system (besides a hedonistic lifestyle) is a risk factor in other diseases, isn’t it? I understood it was better to have cancer when you are old, as the rate of growth depends on your metabolism. When my father was going in for surgery on his bowel cancer, the surgeon asked him whether – when he cuts himself – his wound clots quickly or bleeds for a long time. My father proudly answered ‘almost instantly!’ – he was a boxer a long time ago, and always very proud of his fitness. “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear” said the surgeon – a man who wants blood to be as thin as possible and never to clot. It’s not always good to be strong!
AhPek, ClO2, – you’re right – the current flu is H1N1, and so was the Spanish Flu – my father lost 3 young siblings to Spanish Flu around 1920. I’m not sure how closely related they are. I thought I read somewhere (it’s on wikipedia’s 2009 flu pandemic article – just checked, but I don’t think that’s the first place I saw it) that older people may have antibodies that defend against the new H1N1. I think the presumption is that older people may have been exposed to H1N1 of a similar kind in one of the long-ago major outbreaks, and have acquired some immunity. Of course that would only be some old people who were also once exposed to a similar H1N1!
Interesting to see Rais use Britain as an excuse. The UK gov’s flu advice is still at the top of the main government website, while the main Malaysian government website still doesn’t have any information about H1N1 at all. In the UK they’ve promised to procure enough vaccinations for one each for all citizens, and be the first country to have them. In a country where the most likely advice to sick people is “oh stop moaning”, they had a dedicated swine flu freecall phone number. A phone number doesn’t sound much good, but my experience of NHS Direct is that it’s both reassuring and genuinely useful – the people (who are usually nurses at very least) answering are very professional. According to the online info, you can pre-book your vaccine during the phone call.
Perhaps it’s easy to be less alarmed when it appears that everything that could be done, has been done.
Comments of some people here sound funny. If one of his/her family members becomes a H1N1 victim, I’m not sure he/she still can give funny comments.
I like dawsheng’s opition:
Pakatan Rakyat’s cabinet committee in the MOH must spring into action, Dr. Lee Boon Chye, Dr. Mohd Hayati Othman and Dr Tan Seng Giaw must prove to the Rakyat they are prepared to tackle H1N1 crisis should the government failed to do so.
Yes. They should suggest solutions, which in turn will pressure the MOH to be more serious in this issue. Death toll 62 is a bit too high for Malaysia compared to other nations like China.
United States
Cases Confirmed: 46948
Death: 477
Percentage: 1.02%
Argentina
Cases Confirmed: 6768
Death: 404
Percentage: 5.97%
Brazil
Cases Confirmed: 3642
Death: 339
Percentage: 9.31%
Mexico
Cases Confirmed: 18861
Death: 163
Percentage: 0.86%
Australia
Cases Confirmed: 29833
Death: 109
Percentage: 0.36%
Chile
Cases Confirmed: 12104
Death: 105
Percentage: 0.87%
Thailand
Cases Confirmed: 11585
Death: 97
Percentage: 0.84%
Canada
Cases Confirmed: 11976
Death: 66
Percentage: 0.55%
Malaysia
Cases Confirmed: 3857
Death: 62
Percentage: 1.61%
United Kingdom
Cases Confirmed: 12903
Death: 49
Percentage: 0.38%
These statistics show some information. For example, although many cases reported in developed countries like US, UK, Australia, etc., the death toll are low. Also, the percentage death toll of Mexico is lower than Malaysia. In my opinion, the Malaysian government is not serious in this issue. In UK, if someone is suspected (mild cases), he/she will be asked to stay at home and he/she will receive medicine by post. If he/she is in serious condition, he/she will be fetched to the hospital by ambulance.
YB Liow, I am sorry u r just not up to the mark. Being a Minister of Health isn’t just a salaried job like any other and u know that well now.
Whilst, understandably, YB Liow, u can’t do everything with just 1 pair of hands, legs and 1 brain nor r u helped by a flabby and prehaps, even uncooperative, cabal of civil servants, yet u have 1 more weapon that u can use to great effect – u can still bark and bellow and bite the hell out of the bureaucracy. And it’s time to do it now or forever hold yr peace because this is going to be the defining moment of yr career. That is clear. This is not one of those ‘shape-up-or-ship-out’ situations’. This is yr Waterloo. It’s the battle of yr life.
I don’t envy u going down sheepishly and stupidly. Fight, man, fight! U can b sure 25 million Malaysians are watching and cheering 4 you on to show leadership. The other 0.5 million of UMNO members, u can tell them to go to hell….actually, u don’t even hv to tell them; they r going to hell anyway by all accounts and judgment.
Actually, I have been told by 1 of yr ex-UKM mates that u r a good guy, even a nice guy, n deserves some right kind of strong encouragement and the right kind of mentorship. Hope u get to find it this time around and soon…or u will b consigned to the heaps of rubbish and litter of history. Make a difference by being different.
God bless u, brother.
everything starts and ends with the health ministry officials. their lack of coordination and communication has made the situation worse than what it should be. How else can anyone explain the sudden jump in the number of AH1N1 cases and mortality rate if the situation was truly under control?
In my opinion, the Malaysian government is not serious in this issue. (m2molo)
=============================================
Agreed.
When Singapore was screening school children for body temperatures during the early stage of the A(H1N1) flu outbreak, our DPM said Malaysia would not emulate Singapore to screen school children for temperatures.
It is sad that Malaysia is lack of experts in the field of pandemic diseases who can give Malaysians proper advice.
maybe they wish H1N1 to kill some of pakatan supporter or pakatan rep.
pakatan state government should do something ! use your power to compulsory all ppl in state wearing mask at close area, authority take action to ppl who fail to do so !
give order to all shopping mall management so that their mall must use anti septic. to clean flooring everyday
For BN, taking over Selangor, demonizing Anwar, Nik Aziz and the DAP is more important than fighting H1N1.
Just wait till one the BN big guys is knocked down by the virus.
If one were to read most of the posts here, one would get the impression really that it is the Health Ministry and the Health Minister in
particularly who is responsible for the spread of the H1N1 virus. Everybody is an epidimiology expert here claiming the Minister’s scalp.
So if everybody here is so smart what is the prescription? Close the schools, the restaurants and everything down right? Tell me for
how long? Vaccinate everybody with vaccine right? Where to get the vaccine? Burn down the Health Ministry? What else are you going
to burn after that. Sometime I think it is not healthy to condemn someone or some institution without getting all the facts right.
The primary reason why the H1N1 spread so fast is because it is not as virulent but no less infectious than SARS and have all the hallmark
of a more successful virus as far as survival is concern. Most importantly it does not kill most of its host or infected person. In
fact a great many infected may be just subclinical or have very mild symptoms. The enraging death toll is probably because by now
it has already spread expoentially into the community with hundreds of thousand of people having it mostly without knowing.
How can you prevent the spread of the infection when you do not even know the guy next to you who looks and feels completely well is having
the bug. He does not even need to cough or sneeze to pass it to you. Unless you shut yourself off from the world for the next maybe
5 years you are unlikely to avoid being infected with it I think. However, do not assume that you have escape from it altogether.
The consequence may be afterall more undesirable.
As we all know these flu bugs mutate very fast, some becoming more virulent and some others less. It is all well if it becomes less virulent
and spread with little consequence. In fact this is more likely the scenerio because the virus can propagate with little hindrance
from the host and his armamatarium. However if it does become more virulent, those who have been infected by H1N1 before may indeed
have some at partial immunity against it because of some common footprint it shared. Just like smallpox vs cowpox or chickenpox.
If not by that time I hope we better have a vaccine for it or we have on our hand a more deadly and destructive virus to deal with,
one less forgiving and more formidable.
I am also not saying, CI02,that A(H1N1) won’t kill healthy people just that it killed far more people who has underlying medical conditions.Whether A(H1N1) would mutate into something more deadly is currently not the worry,and in any case I don’t think there is anyone who can prevent mutation of flu genes!
Yes OrangRojak,I remember I’ve read that too that older people (65 and above) are less likely to get infected by A(H1N1),and you are probably right in saying that they might have antibodies (maybe acquired sometime in the process of growing old) against the attack of the novel H1N1.
On the subject of the government’s typical failure to do anything competent online, I note that the state government websites of Penang and Selangor also do not appear to have H1N1 advice. There is a nice picture of the Penang CM on the front of their web though. Very celebrity cult. Does that sort of thing really win votes here? It always reminds me of places like North Korea.
Too late – missed the boat! The MOH seems to have done a proper job at h1n1.moh.gov.my at last. I’m not sure about a Surveillance plan with the title “M.I.S.S.”, but hey! look! The NIPPP is by Health Minister CSL! You would have thought they’d have edited it a bit to ‘bring it up to date’. That H1N1 site looks pretty good now.
wesuffer, anti septic should be used but most of them effective against germs not H1N1 virus. So far I have seen Chlorine Dioxide has the proof (published in Journal of General Virology) to destroy H1N1 virus. This is one of the critical aspects because we want to make sure we are using the right weapon to wipe out the virus.
The situation is getting worst by day. Ministry needs to take more drastic action. Suspend all public gathering, close the schools if need to.
Take temp daily in schools, take temp screening 100% at ALL entry/exit points and ENFORCE this 100%
Get rid of the “tidak-apa” attitude at clinics/hospital and take this SERIOUSLY.
More people are loosing their lives….this is NOT about politics or economy!! It’s time the nation UNITE to fight this!
i know anti septic is not help to kill virus .
but true it can help to kill germ. as health ministry advised everyone wash hand often.wear mask. even mask also canot 100% prevent from H1N1
but kill germ is 1st step to avoid ppl get sick.
if ppl fall sick keep raising then these ppl will easy influence H1N1 virus due to their ewak anti body.
i remember this is one of methods how hongkong to fight SARS lastime. hk goverment ask all residents to clean and wash their residences building.
Hi ablastine, we’re not smart. But sometimes we do not need to be smart to understand something. Look at the statistics. There are so many cases reported in Australia, UK, Mexico, etc. but the death toll is lower compared to that of Malaysia. What does this tell? Are Malaysians weak and more vulnerable to the virus? I think it’s something wrong to do with our healthcare system. We’re not blaming MOH minister or officials. I think MOH did a good job earlier, but not later when the death toll hikes rapidly. They just do not put enough effort. We just want to pressure MOH to be more serious. Look at China… how many death toll in China? My Chinese friend told me Chinese government takes very firm action in handling this flu outbreak. Look at UK… http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_178842.htm … you may test yourself if you’re affected by the virus.
It looks to me that MOH minister is very free…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v608/zhaopian/SoFree.png
H1N1 could work out very well in CSL’s favour. Not only is he the name on the advice on the MOH’s revamped H1N1 website, he appears to be playing things quite straight for once. See (for example) the UK government’s face mask advice:
It wouldn’t be hard to be a Health Minister in Malaysia. Everything is so far behind the rest of the world, you just have to spend a couple of hours reading other governments’ websites, write a summary and tada! You are the expert.
CSL’s attitude may not be ‘good for business’ if you’re in the business of selling snake oil in a pandemic. I think though it sends out the message that he’s as at risk as any other Malaysian. Wearing expensive placebos, in my view, might tempt people to believe that he doesn’t care about those who can’t afford them. Other news today is that the government is considering price controls on face masks. People won’t pay anything to be in good health, but will pay anything not to die!
In fact I think the Ministry of Health is really very serious and concern about the H1N1 spread more so now when the numbers brought
up here do suggest that the death toll is higher than many other places. However, as I brought up earlier, the mortality rate given cannot be very accurate because we do not know the total number of people that has been affected at that point in time. We may be at a phase where the spread is at its maximum accleration, where a large number of the population is being newly infected at once. Malaysia is probably now at the mitigation phase as well, as the virus is circulating freely in the community. It is a difficult
balancing act to do. To over-react here may in fact be counter-productive as it means having to severely curtail all human activities and shutting down the economy at this difficult time will really spell trouble of another kind. In the end the virus will still continue to spread although it may slow down a bit. I am incline to believe that the health care system and how hard the Ministry officers try have only a weak correlation with the H1N1 Mortality. Perhaps other places like Singapore uses Tamiflu more but if the mortality rate
in Malaysia is in fact truly very much higher than the rest of the world, it would really mean that the strain here has mutated to a more virulent kind and that is a big cause for worry. If that is the case I suppose the Health Ministry again is going the get the brunt of it all – for allowing the virus to mutate !
#7 by nckeat on August 16th, 2009 18:51
See I told you, LKS only is ‘elated’ everytime there is a new death which gave him opportunity to attack the gov. He has nothing new to contribute at all beside repeating the statistic. He is not even coming out with his expert recommendation.
nckeat, hmmm…. i would agree with raven77
#19 by raven77 on August 16th, 2009 20:57
If you cannot do the job, why don’t hand over to LKS and co to do the job. Why the heck he must do the job for you fellas….Unless of course LKS and co willing to work as unpaid employees for BN government
guess what’s the result of complaining, bising-ing or if some wanna call it attacking the govenment???…
star online 22 august headline
Insurance firms to cover claims
malaysiakini 22 august
H1N1: No deaths for second day, 310 discharged
Prognosis: Flu to last for a year, mostly mild
the authorities dont seems to be able to do their work unless pressured.
sigh …