Zika patient in Sabah dies from heart complications

Zika patient in Sabah dies from heart complications.

His death was confirmed by Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah to Malay daily Berita Harian.

The 61-year-old Sabah man who was hospitalised after contracting the Zika virus in Malaysia has died on Saturday (Sept 3) from heart complications.

The deceased was reported to have developed a fever on Aug 27 and went to a clinic on Aug 30.

Dr Noor Hisham said the man, of Dusun-descent, was from Taman Public Jaya, Likas.

It causes only mild symptoms for most people such as fever and a rash.

The unnamed patient was receiving treatment at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Kota Kinabalu as his condition was serious; his health was exacerbated by other medical issues.

Urine and blood tests conducted on him returned positive for Zika.

The joint statement revealed National Public Health Laboratory has worked with A*STAR's Bioinformatics Institute to complete the sequencing analysis of the Zika virus found in two patients from the Aljunied Crescent/ Sims Drive cluster.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) lists Indonesia among Asian countries with possible endemic transmission of, or evidence of, local Zika infections, but authorities in the sprawling nation of 250 million people have yet to report any recent infections.

The Health Ministry has initiated vector control measures to be carried out in the housing area where the man lived as well as other places that he had visited.

Health Minister S. Subramaniam, in providing details of the first case, told a news briefing on Thursday that the 58-year-old woman contracted Zika after visiting her infected daughter in Paya Lebar last month.

JAKARTA, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Indonesia cannot afford to thoroughly check for a possible Zika outbreak, a health ministry official said, as Southeast Asia's most populous country must focus on fighting dengue, a potentially fatal virus also carried by mosquitoes.

The ministry also said that its Singapore counterpart had confirmed that 11 Malaysians were infected with the virus, all of them working and living in Singapore except for one commuter from Johor.

"Singapore has not announced the Zika virus (outbreak) as an extraordinary event", he said.