2nd A/H1N1 death in Hong Kong

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration/07/27/09/pinay-maid-dies-swine-flu-hong-kong

Pinay maid dies of swine flu in Hong Kong
Agence France-Presse | 07/27/2009 10:04 PM

HONG KONG - A Filipino maid died of swine flu in Hong Kong Monday, health authorities said, as the city investigated whether this was its first fatality from the virus.

The 37-year-old, who arrived in Hong Kong on June 28 to start her job as a domestic helper, developed a sore throat and fever a day later, the Center for Health Protection (CHP) said in a statement.

The woman, who was not named by the CHP, checked into the United Christian Hospital on July 7 and was admitted to intensive care in a critical condition.

"The case has been referred to the coroner... for investigation," the CHP said, referring to the patient's death as a "fatal case of human swine influenza."

Before Monday no fatalities were confirmed to have been caused by the A(H1N1) influenza virus in Hong Kong, although the government said earlier this month it was investigating the death of a 42-year-old Philippine man infected with the virus.

The city said it was unable to confirm Monday night whether the domestic helper's death was Hong Kong's first confirmed swine flu fatality.

But a spokeswoman for the UCH told AFP: "It should be the first fatal swine flu case in Hong Kong."

The hospital released a statement Monday night which said: "The patient has been on Tamiflu and antibiotics treatment. She was in critical condition requiring mechanical ventilation."

It said the woman was placed on a life support system on July 13, but "her condition continued to deteriorate and she was certified dead at 17:47 today (0947 GMT Monday)."

The government said by Monday night a total of 2,855 cases of swine flu had been reported in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is particularly nervous about infectious diseases following the outbreak of the SARS virus in 2003, which killed 300 people here and a further 500 around the world.

When Hong Kong discovered its first swine flu case in early May, health authorities quarantined around 300 guests and staff at a hotel where the carrier, a Mexican national, had briefly stayed.

In June, authorities ordered all primary schools in the city to be closed for two weeks after the first cluster of local swine flu cases was found.

More than 800 people have been killed around the world by the A(H1N1) virus, which first surfaced in Mexico, and the World Health Organization has warned that the pandemic is now unstoppable.
as of 07/27/2009 10:05 PM

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: 2nd A/H1N1 death in Hong Kong

(...)
CHP will report the case to the World Health Organisation.

(...)

http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200907/27/P200907270270.htm

 

[Chuck]

Re: 2nd A/H1N1 death in Hong Kong

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=491142&publicationSubCategoryId=202

Filipina maid in Hong Kong dies of A(H1NI)
By Mayen Jaymalin and Pia Lee-Brago Updated July 29, 2009 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipina domestic helper died of Influenza A(H1N1) yesterday in Hong Kong, the Philippine Consulate General said.

Consul General Claro Cristobal, in a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), said that a 37-year-old overseas Filipino worker from Tarlac died at the United Christian Hospital in Kwun Tong, Kowloon.

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) chief Carmelita Dimzon identified the fatality as Dolores Bauzon, who left the country for the first time last June 28 to work as domestic helper in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is still investigating whether this was its first fatality from the virus.

Bauzon left behind her husband and their six-month-old son. Cristobal said Bauzon?s husband was at the OFW?s bedside at the time of her death.

The consulate said Bauzon developed sore throat and fever on June 29 and was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital on July 7, initially diagnosed with ?severe pneumonia.?

On July 11, the consulate was informed by the attending doctor at hospital that a ?molecular? test had confirmed Bauzon to be A(H1N1) positive.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) chief Jennifer Manalili said a Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) report from Hong Kong indicated that Bauzon was already weak when she arrived in the former Crown Colony.

?She could hardly work when she arrived in Hong Kong,? Manalili disclosed.

Hong Kong doctors said there was a strong possibility that Bauzon already contracted the virus before departing from the Philippines. Manalili also said she received information that Bauzon has recently given birth and had asthma.

OWWA reported that the Hong Kong Hospital Authority has referred the case to the coroner for investigation, even as the Center for Health Protection will report it to the World Health Organization.

OWWA assures family of insurance benefits

Dimzon assured Bauzon?s family they would receive all statutory and insurance benefits from the OWWA.

?We are already processing the documents for the immediate release of her insurance and other benefits,? Dimzon said, adding that OWWA was also working to facilitate the repatriation of Dolores? remains.

Before Monday, no fatalities were confirmed to have been caused by the A(H1N1) influenza virus in Hong Kong, although the government said earlier this month it was investigating the death of a 42-year-old Filipino male infected with the virus.

The city said it was unable to confirm Monday night whether the domestic helper?s death was Hong Kong?s first confirmed swine flu fatality.

But a spokeswoman for the UCH told AFP: ?It should be the first fatal swine flu case in Hong Kong.?

The hospital released a statement Monday night which said: ?The patient has been on Tamiflu and antibiotics treatment. She was in critical condition requiring mechanical ventilation.?

It said the woman was placed on a life support system on July 13, but her condition continued to deteriorate.

The Hong Kong government said by Monday night a total of 2,855 cases of swine flu had been reported.

Meanwhile, the Department of Education (DepEd) has again allowed schools with confirmed cases of A(H1N1) virus to suspend classes.

Based on DepEd Order No. 76 Education Secretary Jesli Lapus issued the other day, schools are again instructed to suspend classes upon discovery of confirmed cases of A(H1N1).

Lapus said the new policy was being implemented in compliance with the Department of Health?s revision yet again of the response level system against A(H1N1) in schools.

It was learned that the DOH?s revision of the response level guide was brought on by concerns of possible mutation of the A(H1N1) virus in view of the increasing number of the flu strain.

?All public and private schools should sustain efforts to monitor the incidence of influenza-like illness campaign for proper hand washing, general hygiene and proper cough/ sneeze manners and make available hygiene and sanitation facilities,? Lapus said in his order.

Lapus also instructed all regional directors, school division superintendents and school heads to oversee the new guidelines and report schools with confirmed cases under observation to the DepEd A(H1N1) Action Center through hotline 635-9964 manned by Dr. Minda Meimban and Loida Ramos.

The DOH, for its part, sustained Lapus? call to limit the scope of the class suspension and avoid suspending classes for the whole school.

?Students in block sections can be suspended altogether when one of them is a confirmed A(H1N1) case while sparing the rest of the school population from disruption of classes, especially when there are no confirmed cases in other sections,? the guidelines said.

Meanwhile, the Agusan National High School has suspended classes today up to Aug. 6 after a number of students fell ill and showed flu-like symptoms, the school?s principal Peter Esterioso said. He noted that two of their students tested positive for A(H1N1) based on results released by the DOH?s Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM). ? With Ben Serrano, Rainier Allan Ronda

 

[Chuck]

Re: 2nd A/H1N1 death in Hong Kong

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=85525&sid=24733927&con_type=1

Family seek truth over flu death

Mary Ann Benitez

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The family of a Filipino domestic helper want answers on why she died of human swine flu (H1N1) despite seeking prompt treatment from a doctor the moment she developed flu-like symptoms.

The maid, 37, died at the United Christian Hospital on Monday - one month to the day she arrived in Hong Kong to take up her job on June 28. She developed flu-like symptoms on June 29, and her employer immediately took her to a doctor's clinic.

The Centre for Health Protection confirmed last night that the H1N1 flu victim had seen a private general practitioner. A spokesman declined to give further details, saying the death will be subject to a coroner's inquest.

Meanwhile, Mass was heard last night for the woman at a Catholic church in Ma On Shan.

Her remains will not be released to her husband until post-mortem examinations are complete. The 37-year-old driver had kept a vigil at his wife's bedside since arriving last Friday.

"According to the husband, he was surprised why her condition had deteriorated so fast," Philippine vice consul Val Roque said.

The consulate has not been told what medicines or tests were given to the maid when she was seen by the private doctor.

Immediate past president of the Hong Kong Medical Association Gabriel Choi Kin said the presence of diarrhea among the symptoms could have misled the doctor into concluding the maid's ailment was gastroenteritis or something else.

"If you add the diarrhea it changes the whole perspective," he said.

But the woman's death must serve as a warning that doctors should not be ruling out swine flu so hastily, he added.

"When we have a person coming in with symptoms, we have to think about swine flu because this is a [pandemic]."

The maid's death comes after the World Health Organization said in Geneva on Friday last week that "there is accumulating evidence suggesting pregnant women are at higher risk of a more severe form of the disease."

A spokesman at the WHO Western Pacific regional headquarters in Manila said: "We do expect more cases [in the region], but as the pandemic is quite early in its development the full picture of its epidemiology is not yet fully clear."