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rifin Achmad Hospital in Pekanbaru is currently treating 9-year-old Yan Chensura, a Malaysian, who is suspected of having contracted the H1N1 flu, the first such case detected in Riau.

The H5N1 and H1N1 response team coordinator at the hospital, Azisman Saad, said Thursday the child was brought to the hospital at 8 p.m. on Tuesday by the medical office at Sei Duku Port in Pekanbaru.

According to Azisman, medical officers at Sei Duku Port who were examining arriving passengers on board a ferry from Malaka, Malaysia, using a thermometer, detected the body temperature of Yan and her mother Murati, 47, was 39.2 degrees Celsius, and immediately placed them in quarantine.

"Their clinical symptoms were similar to those of bird flu, but without breathing difficulties, except coughs and high fever. They were treated as suspects because they arrived from a country that already has cases of the notorious influenza.

"Only the child is undergoing treatment. The mother is healthy," said Azisman.

He added the 130 passengers on board the ferry had been given warning cards and were advised to present the cards at the nearest health center if they experienced flu-like symptoms.

Yan, he explained, was currently being treated at the bird and swine flu isolation ward and had been given the Tamiflu vaccine.

The medical team also took blood, nasal and throat mucus samples and sent them to the laboratory at the Health Ministry in Jakarta for further examination.

He said the patient's condition had showed signs of improvement as of Thursday, evident from the drop in the patient's body temperature to 36.6 degrees Celsius.

"If her condition further improves tomorrow, she can go home without having to wait for the test results," said Azisman.

Local authorities have confirmed the patient's citizenship as Malaysian.

Riau Health Office head Mural Amir previously said the patient's relatives were from Lubuk Jambi, Kuantan Sengingi regency, and had been living in the Malaysian state of Pahang for several years.

Mural also said he had issued an instruction to step up observations at every passenger entry point to prevent the flu virus from entering Indonesia.