Paradigm Shift Intervention Monitoring
twitter
Live feed of underlying pandemic map data here
Commentary
Malaysia Denies H1N1 Cause In Maleka Death Cluster
Recombinomics
Commentary 16:11
April 3, 2010
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai who confirmed the cases here Saturday, said both deaths were due to complications and were not direct H1N1 deaths.
Currently, the total H1N1 death remained at 77 cases, excluding the latest two cases, he told reporters after being briefed by the Kuala Kubu Baru Hospital staff.
Liow explained that the woman who had diabetes tested positive with the H1N1 virus when she was admitted at the hospital on March 31.
It was her diabetes, he said that had led to the complication of severe metabolicacidosis, causing an infection to the kidney and its eventual failure.
“Therefore, her death was due to diabetes complication,” he added.
The victim’s 29-year-old daughter was 36 weeks pregnant and was admitted on the same day at the hospital where she was diagnosed with Foetal Distress Syndrome. Later she showed symptoms of influenza-like illness (ILI) and tested positive with H1N1.
The above comments demonstrate the attempt by the health minister in Malaysia to claim that the death cluster in Melaka was not due to H1N1.
This nonsense is similar to WHO claims that the cause of death in the cluster at Duke Medical Center could not be definitely linked to the Tamiflu resistant H1N1 virus that infected four patients and killed three, even though three of four isolates from the fatal cases had D225G or D225N. The denial was repeated in February, 5 months after the deaths.
These agency denials are absurd and continue to be hazardous to the world’s health.
Media Links
Recombinomics
Presentations
Recombinomics
Publications
Recombinomics
Paper
at Nature Precedings