They have relatively mild symptoms and are stable, the Health Ministry said yesterday. It is in the process of tracking down those in close contact with them, including passengers on the same flight, so they can be quarantined and given the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

The 22-year-old undergraduate who was first found to have H1N1 on Tuesday after returning from New York is also doing well and her fever is going down, The Straits Times understands.

Because the virus is likely mild, the cases here have so far been isolated, and there has been no spread within the community, Singapore's alert level has not been raised.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan had said on Wednesday that even if there were people who contracted the flu here and the World Health Organisation raised its alert level to six, which signals a pandemic, Singapore would still remain on yellow alert if the virus remained mild.

The H1N1 bug, first discovered in Mexico last month, has since spread to more than 13,000 people in 48 countries. Mexico, the US and Canada have been hardest hit.

But Singapore has acted fast to pinpoint and quarantine victims, so the hope is that it will be like a slow burn rather than spreading like a wildfire.

'It will burn slowly if we are alert in detecting, isolating, contact tracing very aggressively, hunting down every possible close contact and quarantining them,' Mr Khaw had said.

The slow-burn strategy requires not just vigilance on the part of the authorities, but individuals too. This was the case with the latest patients, who were taken to hospital as soon as doctors suspected they had been infected.

Said the 43-year-old Filipino patient, who spoke to The Straits Times over the telephone: 'I had a cough and cold, but no fever, and I went to a clinic.

'When they found out my travel history, they immediately sent me to Tan Tock Seng.'

She said she had gone to San Francisco for her son's graduation ceremony. 'My family is worried, but I keep them updated through my mobile and the Internet,' she said.

There has been no sign that the flu has spread from the first H1N1 patient, who spent her second day at Tan Tock Seng Hospital's CDC 2 wing yesterday.

Her boyfriend, who displayed no symptoms but was in close contact with her when she returned to Singapore, was also isolated at the same wing, but could be discharged today if he continues to be well.

By yesterday, the 25 people who had close contact with the first victim had been issued home quarantine orders and the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

Eleven of them, including her lecturer and coursemate who sat closest to her on the long flight home, are being quarantined at home.

The 14 foreigners on the same flight are currently under quarantine at the Aloha Loyang Resort, which had been earmarked for emergency use as part of the national operations in managing a H1N1 flu outbreak.

The Health Ministry reiterated yesterday that those who had travelled in the past seven days to affected countries should see a doctor if they developed flu-like symptoms.

[출처: The Straits Times] - 스노우 닷컴