H1N1 FLU REACHES S'PORE: Cleared to leave CDC

June 1, 2009

H1N1 FLU REACHES S'PORE

Cleared to leave CDC

By Jessica Jaganathan
		The Singapore permanent resident, who is originally from the Philippines, was discharged on Sunday afternoon after staying at the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) since Wednesday. -- PHOTO: AP

AFTER clearing two tests for the Influenza A (H1N1) virus, 43-year-old Ana (not her real name) was all dressed up to leave the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) on Saturday.

But nurses told her she had one more test to clear and held her for another day.

The Singapore permanent resident, who is originally from the Philippines, was discharged on Sunday afternoon after staying at the ward since Wednesday.

Ana returned from San Francisco via Manila on Tuesday on a Singapore Airlines flight after attending her son's graduation ceremony there. She visited a general practitioner the next day when she developed a cough and cold, and was immediately asked to go to the CDC.

Her time in the CDC was spent reading, working and checking her e-mails on her iPhone, which came in handy in an otherwise empty room, she told The Straits Times in a phone interview. She was given a television set on Saturday.

Her cough and fever had both cleared by Friday, and she was totally rid of the virus on Saturday, she added, sounding tired. 'I am free...feels like I am out of prison. It is different than staying at home in your own comfort.'

She went home in a cab yesterday armed with two days' supply of Tamiflu and medical leave for at least five days.

Her four flatmates are still on home quarantine, but she wants to stay away as much as possible for now by staying in her room most of the time so that she 'does not complicate things'.

The project manager is glad to be 'over and done with the flu', and wants to go back to work soon. But she is worried about how her colleagues might react: 'I am bracing myself to go back to work and what they might think...they might tell me to stay away from them.'

Before going to see a doctor, she had gone in to work, and five colleagues who had come into close contact with her had to be quarantined as well.

Ana has volunteered to be subject to research, and will be going back to the doctors in a few weeks for them to extract blood specimens to study the disease further. 'It will be good to help contribute to future research,' she said.

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