Seven People Warded At KL Hospital For Bird-flu Tests

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 22 (Bernama) -- Seven people showing signs of upper respiratory tract infections from the bird-flu hit area in Jalan Genting Klang, Kuala Lumpur, have been warded at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital and are undergoing tests to ascertain whether they have been infected by the deadly H5N1 virus.
Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said that the results of the tests conducted on the two adults and five children aged between two months to 12 years would be known by tomorrow morning at the latest.
"We have sent 11 teams to the area and so far they have checked 161 houses and interviewed or screened 916 residents there," he told a news conference here Wednesday.
The minister said initially 10 people complained of having a fever, sore throat or coughs but after being referred to the hospital, three of them were later found to be fine and sent home.
Forty free range chickens from villages in the area had died of the H5N1 virus and intensive house-to-house screenings have started within a 300m radius of the area. The villages are Kampung Wirajaya, Kampung Pasir Wardieburn, Kampung Danau Kota and Kampung Belakang JPJ.
The seven admitted to the KLH comprises three Malays and four Indians, he said, adding that the two adults were aged 52 and 57-years old.
"I want to stress that they are not confirmed avian influenza cases," he said in cautioning the media not to misreport on the situation or seek to take photographs or interview them at the hospital.
He said active surveillance within the 300m radius of the affected area would last for seven days while passive surveillance was being conducted in areas beyond that boundary and this would go on for two weeks.
The latter, he said, involved educating residents to go for health checks if they experienced fever, sore throat or coughing and surrender their chickens, ducks or other birds to the Veterinary Services Department.
To a question, Dr Chua said that no quarantine order had been issued so far.
The minister said he did not yet have information on the exact number of houses within the 300m radius.
"We will cover all of them but better still, if residents have flu-like symptoms, they should report it to the authorities," he said, adding that an operation room in the affected area had been jointly set up by the ministry and the Veterinary Services Department.
Saying that the seven residents had been put in a special ward, Dr Chua noted that the KLH was ready to handle bird-flu cases, if any.
In addition, he said, the Institute of Medical Research had been directed to be on the ready to receive clinical samples for tests.
To a question, he said that Malaysia was prepared to handle the bird flu disease and that it had not asked for outside help so far.
A national operation centre has been activated and it can be reached at 03-88886212/6213.