Singapore confirms first case of H1N1 flu infection (Roundup)

May 27, 2009, 11:40 GMT

Singapore - Singapore on Wednesday confirmed its first case of the new strain of H1N1 influenza virus in a 22-year-old woman who had just returned from a trip to the United States, the Ministry of Health reported.

The third-year student from Singapore Management University had been in New York from May 14 to 24 on a study mission with other students and faculty members and came back on a Singapore Airlines flight from New York Tuesday morning.

She began to develop a cough on the flight, but passed the thermal scanner at the airport without incident, as she did not have a fever at that point, the ministry said.

She later felt unwell and was sent to a hospital by her doctor. Laboratory test confirmed her infection.

The patient is being treated at the hospital and is in stable condition, the ministry said.

The university said all other students and faculty members who returned with the infected student were fine.

'They are currently on home quarantine for the next six days,' the university said in a statement. Hospital staff 'will continue to monitor their health and take temperature checks twice daily.'

The health ministry urged passengers who had travelled on the same flight and were seated near the patient to call a hotline so authorities could check on their health condition.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the government knew that sooner or later Singapore would have its first flu case.

'I suppose we have been lucky - we have now five weeks since the alert to prepare ourselves, as well as Singaporeans, for this eventuality. So there should really be no cause for alarm,' local media quoted him as saying.