The Health Bureau (SSM) announced on Monday the current flu season’s first fatality, a 71-year-old local woman suffering from cancer and with a history of chronic illnesses.
According to an SSM statement last night, the patient had suffered from fever and cough since last Tuesday. She sought medical treatment at the private Kiang Wu Hospital on Sunday where she tested positive for the influenza A virus.
Due to respiratory insufficiency and her poor health overall, the patient was transferred to the emergency ward of the public Conde de S. Januário Hospital Centre where chest radiography showed that she was suffering from pneumonia in her right lung.
The patient was immediately transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the public hospital where she was connected to a mechanical ventilator because of respiratory insufficiency and septic shock.
The patient’s strep test turned out to be positive on Monday. She passed away Monday morning. She had not been vaccinated against influenza for the current flu season, the statement pointed out.
The statement revealed that the Health Bureau has registered 31 flu-cum-pneumonia patients since September last year – including Monday’s fatality. Among the 31 patients, 81 per cent had not been vaccinated against influenza. A total of six of the patients were still hospitalised on Monday, five males and a female, aged between 63 and 82.
Meanwhile, the statement said that 43 pupils from four schools have been diagnosed with the flu since last Wednesday.
According to the Macau Post Daily, the statement urged residents to get their free flu shots as soon as possible.
