More declared H1N1 positive but all recover
Nurni Sulaiman and Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Balikpapan, Bandung | Sat, 07/11/2009 12:48 PM
More people have been declared H1N1 positive in East Kalimantan and West Java but no H1N1-linked fatalities have been reported yet.
Kanudjoso Djatiwibowo Hospital in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, declared Thursday US citizen Rowan Hepurn, 26, as H1N1 positive as stated by blood and swab test results conducted at the Research and Development lab at the Health Ministry in Jakarta.
"He is still receiving treatment at an isolation ward but his condition has gradually improved," the hospital's director M. Syafak Hanung said Thursday night.
He added that Hepurn, who had been in the ward for four days, was no longer been fed intravenously.
His temperature had also dropped to between 36 and 37 degrees Celsius from a previous 38 degrees.
"We will treat him at the isolation ward until he is totally recovered."
Separately, West Java Health Agency confirmed Thursday two positive H1N1 flu cases involving a couple - B, 42, and D, 32, - from Bojongsoang, Bandung regency.
They were treated at an iso-lation ward at the Hasan Sadikin General Hospital since July 4, after returning from a vacation in Bali and Lombok.
As their latest test results had been negative, meaning they had recovered, the couple were sent home Friday but under the supervision of medical workers.
"We don't want to raise panic among the public, but we hope people examine themselves if they have influenza-like illnesses after returning from places exposed to the disease, or having direct contact with those infected," agency head Alma Lucyati said.
