SWINE FLU SUSPECT IN BALI PASSES AWAY

Denpasar, July 14 (ANTARA) - An influenza A H1N1 suspect, Slamet Subagio (53), of Sidoarjo, East Java, died in the Nusa Indah isolation room of Sanglah General Hospital here on Tuesday.

Slamet had been treated at the hospital for several days before he passed away on Tuesday.

His wife, Ely Renata, said Slamet was actually suffering from a lung problem but had not seen his doctor for the past two months for checkups because he thought his condition had improved.

Ely Renata said, at 4 on Tuesday morning, her husband suddenly felt unwell and was then sent to a private hospital in Denpasar but he was found to have a heart problem and therefore referred to Sanglah General Hospital.

At the emergency unit of Sanglah hospital, Slamet was examined and his blood sample was taken for laboratory tests.

As Slamet was known to have recently visited several swine-flu endemic parts of the world, he was treated in an isolation room for swine flu patients but at 9:15 on Tuesday morning he died.

On Monday, the Sanglah hospital received another H1N1 suspect after admitting one other patient at 4 on Sunday afternoon.

"At 11 a.m. local time on Monday, Sanglah General Hospital received Made Sutama (49) who was suspected to have been infected with the H1N1 virus," hospital spokesman I Gusti Lanang Suartana said.

He said the patient was currently under intensive treatment at the hospital's Nusa Indah isolation room.

According to Lanang, Sanglah hospital on Sunday afternoon also received another Influenza A or H1N1 suspect who was identified as Wayan Wati Rowling (34), a Balinese-born woman who was married to an Australian and had become an Australian citizen.

Following the admission of Made Sutama on Monday, Sanglah hospital is at present treating eight H1N1 or swine flu patients, namely Made Sutama, Wayan Wati Rowling, Rahmat Irwansyah (30), Yogi Prayogo (Irwansyah and Prayogo are residents of Jakarta), Richard Lochner (40) of New Zealand, Michael Partin (19) of the United States, Stephen Carruters (22) and Heater Casey (54) of Australia.

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