Sixteen Indonesian students who contracted the H1N1 virus during a study trip to Singapore this week are now under observation at hospitals on the island state
ixteen Indonesian students who contracted the H1N1 virus during a study trip to Singapore this week are now under observation at hospitals on the island state.
Two others from the same group are also suspected of having been infected with the H1N1 virus, commonly but incorrectly referred to as swine flu.
"We had a group of 37 students studying in Singapore for two weeks and it has been confirmed that 16 of them are infected with the H1N1 virus, while two others are suspected of having the same virus," English First's general manager for Indonesia, Anders Bauer, told The Jakarta Post in Jakata on Wednesday.
He said 14 of the infected students were being treated at KK Women's and Children's Hospital, along with the two other students suspected of carrying the virus. They are awaiting tests.
"The two other positive students are being treated at Changi Hospital," he said.
Bauer said the students departed from Indonesia on June 21 and were scheduled to return this weekend.
"The healthy students will return as scheduled this weekend, while the rest will remain in hospital until they are cleared by doctors," he said.
"Before the group departed on June 21, we already had a few students showing symptoms of colds and flues."
When the group leaders took them to hospital for a check-up on June 23, the doctors did not test them for H1N1 and so did not recommend they stay for observation.
When the students were brought back to the hospital a second time on June 27, the doctors confirmed they had the H1N1 virus.
He said the other students began showing symptoms on different days, with "the last ones today".
"So far their condition is good and they are on their way to recovery. Most of them do not have a fever anymore," Bauer said.
A spokesman for the Health Ministry, Lily Sulistiyowati, said she had not yet received information about the infected students.
"But if they really are positive, the procedure requires they be quarantined until their results are negative," she said.
Separately, it has been confirmed that a resident from Pondok Indah in South Jakarta is also infected with H1N1 and is being treated at Sulianti Saroso Hospital in North Jakarta.
Head of the Jakarta Health Agency Togi Asman said the 22-year-old woman was infected while she was abroad.
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