No confirmation if tambon chief’s son succumbed to H1N1
Test results on the late son of the president of Tambon Dan Mae Lamao Administrative Organisation in the border province of Tak, have yet to confirm if he suffered from the H1N1 influenza, which has infected 99 people and caused 13 deaths in Myanmar recently.
Mae Sot Hospital director Dr Suchat Porncharoenpong said on Thursday that Nopporn Khamyaeng, 43, had sought treatment for flu-like symptoms (cough, runny nose and high fever) at the hospital shortly before his death on Tuesday.
Despite speculation on Thai social media that Nopporn, who reportedly frequently crossed the border into Myanmar where he ran a business, died from the H1N1, Suchat said the initial lab test had only identified he had Type-A influenza. The hospital was still awaiting confirmation from further lab tests if he carried the H1N1 strain, he said. “The patient’s cause of death could be a chronic illness like a heart disease or the H1N1 influenza,” he said, adding that many people have recently sought treatments for flu at this hospital and recovered within 3-4 days.
It was reported that Nopporn, who is reported to be generally healthy, had suddenly developed flu-like symptoms, which he succumbed to, following a trip to Myanmar where he stayed for 10 days.
Nopporn's death spread fear among Thai social media users who thought and widely discussed online that the H1N1 outbreak in Myanmar, could spread to Thailand. To calm public fears, Thai health officials had earlier assured people that the H1N1 virus was not a new strain. “We have been closely monitoring the situation and it’s the strain covered by the vaccine we have been giving to at-risk groups for free,” Disease Control Department director-general Jedsada Chokdamrongsuk said on August 3.