Kuala Lumpur : Pregnant mum the latest victim

Via NST :

" KUALA LUMPUR : A 41-year-old pregnant woman in Penang has become the latest victim of influenza A (H1N1), bringing the death toll to 87 since the outbreak began last year.

The woman, who was 30 weeks' pregnant and expecting her third child, was admitted to Penang Hospital on May 12. She had fever, cough and breathing difficulties. Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said the difficulty in breathing was because she had severe pneumonia. Doctors did their best to save her and her foetus, but failed, he added.

"I have repeatedly advised people who have symptoms of the disease, especially those in the high-risk group and pregnant women, to get treatment early. Delay leads to complications and death."

He said even healthy people could succumb to the disease if they did not seek treatment early.There were 26 positive cases reported as of 5.30pm on Tuesday, with the number of confirmed cases now rising to 14,718.

There are also 573 people, including 40 with H1N1, admitted in public and private hospitals nationwide."

Kuala Lumpur : Nipah still plagues some

Via New Straits Times :

" KUALA LUMPUR : The Nipah virus, whose outbreak in 1999 took more than 100 lives and caused the mass culling of almost a million pigs, has recurred in about 10 per cent of its survivors.

Although another outbreak was highly unlikely in Malaysia, this recurrent pattern had been identified over the past 10 years in small villages in India and Bangladesh, said Professor Dr Tan Chong Tin, who led the 15-member team that identified the Nipah virus when it first appeared.

Dr Tan was the joint recipient of the Merdeka Award in the health, science and technology category in 2008 for his work in discovering the new virus and the follow-up study on it."