Australia Third Swine Flu Fatality

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Swine Flu Death Victoria Australia

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Australia has reported its third swine flu fatality today. 

The latest influenza A(H1N1) sufferer who succumbed to complications is a Victorian woman,aged 50.

She died early today in the Peter MacCullum Center in Melbourne,reports the ABC.

She had been a long-term MacCullum patient with "haematological malignancy".

MacCullum's Dr.David Charlesworth says another patient has also been tested postitive with the swine flu virus and is undergoing treatment there.

"Both patients came in with flu-like illness from the community,and we feel as certain as we can be,that the influenza was from the community," he stresses.

Victoria's acting chief health officer Rosemary Lester clarifies both patients needed to be treated for underlying medical conditions.

According to Dr. Lester, any respiratory illness can compromise the health of sufferers like "immunosuppressed people,especially those being treated for life-threatening cancers".

Follow-up health precautions, like giving tamiflu,are being taken on all those known to have come into contact with both patients, she adds.

Earlier,the second reported Australian fatality - Victorian man named Anthony Splatt,aged 35,died of respiratory failure after felling ill with the H1N1 virus on Saturday in the Maroondah Hospital in Melbourne.

He is from Colac in western Victoria.He is said to have significant medical problems.

The first Australian death is an aboriginal man,aged 26,from a remote Western Australian community.He died in Adelaide last Friday.He also had underlying medical problems.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon expressed concern that Australian aborigines are most at risk and highly vulnerable in the current H1N1 flu outbreak because of poverty and ill health.

Australia swine flu sufferers have escalated rapidly to more than 2,733 cases,with 1,406 of them in Victoria and mostly in Melbourne,"the swine capital of the world".

The first Australian case was reported on May 9,2009 when a woman tested positive for H1N1 virus after she returned to Brisbane,Queensland from Los Angeles,the United States.She has since recovered.

The Australian health authorities had apparently taken the swine flu too lightly.


In fact,when my wife and I checked in at Perth airport on our flight home last month,we saw nothing,no health precautionary measures.

Instead,we had a most unpleasant encounter with three Australian security officers.

The first,a man with greying hair,seized the cream honey my wife had bought at the Freemantle market.

Tbe reason,he told us,was that it could be spread on the aircraft.

But he should have better sense of judgement and use his discretionary powers more prudently than to suspect that a holidaying couple like us would waste the honey on such a stupid act.

The second security guard made me pass through the security scan twice telling me to remove my belt.Fortunately, my pants did not drop and expose my vital organ.

Then,when I was recovering from the upset and putting on my belt,a third security guard,a plump pushy woman,approached my wife for "random body search".

Well,we put up with the discourteous acts,knowing we were not on home territory.

The lack of courtesy,common sense and intelligence displayed by the trio is laughable.

The Australian authorities should send all three officers for refresher courses on proper code of conduct,sensible use of their powers and professionalism to promote customer satisfaction.

The experience left a blot on Australian sensiblity and hospitality.

It shows the wrong priority and policing placed in the wrong direction.

Now,the Australian airport security personnel should be directed to assist in spotting potential swine flu victims and direct them for immediate medical attention and quarantine.

The recent Malaysian sufferers are mostly victims who returned home after trips in Melbourne.

Yesterday,Malaysian Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said students returning home from the United States,Britain,Australia and the Philippines would be required to practise home self-quarantine for seven days.

"If they develop flu-like symptoms,they must seek treatment immediately.They must behave," he warned.

Under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Disease Act 1988,those who violate a quarantine order,whether at home or in hospital,may face a two-year jail term,RM10,000 fine,or both,if they violate the order.

Reviewing the rapid escalation of the swine flu cases in Australia,I note that Australia now accounts for three out of the four deaths in the Asia-Pacific region.

The first reported Asia fatality, a Filipina,aged 49, has resulted in the shut down of the Philippine House of Representatives for five days beginning yesterday.

According to House deputy secretary-general for administration Ramon Ricardo Roque, the drastic measure has been taken to sanitize the House as the woman had worked there and attended a committee seminar on June 15 and 16.

A second House employee,who also fell ill with the influenza A (H1N1) virus,is said to be recovering.

Meanwhile,in China,health authorities have issued plans to suspend classes in all schools in designated area of any flu infection to isolate and contain any potential outbreak.China reported 441 confirmed swine flu sufferers,an increase of 27 victims.

In New Zealand,the total confirmed flu case count is 364 - an addition of 69 more victims and in Thailand,it's 899 confirmed cases with 125 more cases reported yesterday.