Thursday, May 28, 2009

3 people in close contact with first H1N1 patient test negative for virus


Posted: 28 May 2009 2341 hrs 

Travellers queue at Singapore's Changi airport immigration counter

SINGAPORE: Three people who were in close contact with Singapore's first H1N1 flu patient have cleared tests for the virus strain.

The patient, who was not named, is a 22-year-old student from the Singapore Management University (SMU).

The three who cleared H1N1 tests are SMU's Associate Professor Mark Chong Yiew Kim, a 22-year-old third-year SMU business student and the patient's boyfriend.

According to SMU, Professor Chong and the student are on home quarantine.

The patient's boyfriend is at the Singapore's Communicable Disease Centre (CDC), where the index case is being treated.

The victim showed symptoms on Tuesday morning upon her return from a study trip in New York.

"I felt shocked, and my first thought was that I have to get myself tested. I wasn't scared for myself, but I was scared about affecting my family," said the victim in an email response, sent via SMU.

She added that she was not surprised she had to be quarantined. "I knew it was the best thing to do in everyone's interest and I was ready to cooperate," she said.

The patient is in stable condition and is expected to be well enough to go home in five days.

17 other students on the same study trip as the victim are still in North America. According to SMU, they are well.

- CNA/ir 

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

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