Swine Flu Kills 4th Person in Vietnam

A 37-year-old Buddhist nun in Vietnam’s central highlands has died of swine flu, bringing the total number killed by the disease this year to four, authorities said on Tuesday.

The patient initially experienced a mild fever and fatigue before growing malnourished.

She was then taken in for a private health check-up, the Kon Tum Centre for Disease Control said in a statement.

She was admitted in the  hospital in Kon Tum City on Nov. 3, for intensive treatment but died on Nov. 8, the statement said.

Test results confirm she contracted A/H1N1 influenza.

The hospital has since given the antiviral medication Tamiflu to 44 people who were in close contact with the patient.

They have also been quarantined and tested for the virus.

So far, at least one from the 44 tests carried out came out as positive for swine flu, and the patient is receiving intensive treatment.

Swine flu is a respiratory disease caused by the virus H1N1, originally found in pigs, which causes colds, sore throats, coughs and fever.

The first human outbreak was in 2009, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The disease killed eight people in Vietnam in 2018.(dpa/NAN