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Denpasar confirms new H1N1 patient, bird flu suspect
Denpasar Health Agency head I Nyoman Sutedja has confirmed that a student from Cipta Dharma Elementary School in the city had contracted the much-feared A H1N1 influenza virus
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enpasar Health Agency head I Nyoman Sutedja has confirmed that a student from Cipta Dharma Elementary School in the city had contracted the much-feared A H1N1 influenza virus.
As previously reported, more than 200 students of Cipta Dharma, an elite private elementary school in Denpasar, Bali, displayed influence like illness (ILI) symptoms late last week.
The school administrator took the drastic step of temporarily closing the popular elementary school and adjacent kindergarten on Monday and Tuesday, to prevent a further spread of the disease.
On Monday, local heath officials sprayed the school's classrooms with disinfectant.
The agency also dispatched officers to collect samples from other schools reporting a high number of students with ILI symptoms.
The samples would be sent to the local and regional health labs to determine whether the outbreak was common influenza or H1N1.
"If the number of students displaying ILI symptoms reaches 50 percent of the total number of students in the city, then we will close down all schools in Denpasar," Sutedja said.
Separately, Sanglah Central Hospital received another suspected avian influenza patient on Monday.
She was identified as KR, 27.
"We are still placing her under close observation in the isolation ward. We have yet to receive results of her laboratory tests," Ken Wirasandhi of the hospital's avian flu team said.
KR was referred to the hospital by physicians at Kintamani community health center (Puskesmas), after displaying symptoms commonly associated with bird flu.
A relative of KR, I Wayan Gianyar, said that around two months ago, hundreds of KR's chickens had died suddenly without of no apparent cause. KR had raised the chickens in the yard of her house.
Instead of burning the carcasses, KR reportedly buried them.
The Puskesmas's physicians suspected that KR's illness was related to the mass and sudden death of her poultry.
"The physicians also diagnosed her with pneumonia, another sign of possible bird flu infection," he said.
The Hospital has treated a total of 76 A H1N1 patients so far, with 53 officially confirmed as being infected with the virus.
