Brunei Tops World Swine Flu Percentage Growth

Second Highest Per Population Density

Bandar Seri Begawan - Peter Osborn, a British statistics expert claims that Brunei had the highest percent growth in Influenza A/H1N1 cases in the world in the past ten days among nations reporting over 100 incidents of the disease so far. It had a record 547 percentage growth, Mr Osborn's statistics showed.

The country has also acquired the dubious distinction of being the second highest in the world for cases per 10,000 of the population.

Egypt had the lowest growth during the past ten days and Chile the highest per 10,000 population

The figures are contained in his website www.peterosborn.com which monitors the trend of the pandemic among nations.

However a Health Ministry press release said that another 16 people had fallen sick for the second day running bringing the total to 271 with the flu. The source of the latest cases is still under investigation.

So far there has been one death. A 12-year-old girl died on July 3 of A/H1N1. She also had advanced liver complications.

Meanwhile a further nine cases of the swine flu have recovered and been discharged from hospital, the ministry said.

As for the 120 cases that are still under treatment, 85 percent are continuing treatment at their homes and the rest at normal isolation wards at the hospitals.

The Ministry of Health continues to remind the public to practice good personal hygiene in order to control the spread of the disease through:

• Frequent hand washing using soap and water and drying hands using disposable napkins or electrical hand dryer.
• Use of disposable tissue paper containing alcohol or antimicrobial gel in the absence of a hand washing facility.
• Covering nose and mouth with tissue paper when coughing or sneezing and immediately throw the tissue paper away in the rubbish bin.
• Avoiding being with people who have symptoms of influenza.
• Avoiding going to crowded places.

The Ministry of Health also continued to remind the public that although Influenza A H1N1 infection has generally been reported as mild, it causes serious complications to pregnant mothers and patients with chronic diseases. Cooperation from the public, especially those visiting patients in the hospitals, is therefore sought to prevent the spread of the infection to the patients that they are visiting. The public are reminded to adhere to visiting regulations at all hospitals.

For general enquiries on Influenza A H1N1, the public can contact Healthline 145 during office hours or 8220991 after working hours.

Source: BruDirect.com