PUTRAJAYA, May 13 (Bernama) -- The number of trainees from the Road Transport Department (RTD) Academy in Melaka who are being treated at the Melaka Hospital following an epidemic suspected to be meningitis, rose to 46 today from 38 cases yesterday.
The Director-General of Health, Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican, said of the total, two cases were being treated at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ward and they were expected to be taken out of the ICU ward tomorrow while the remaining 44 cases were being treated at the Isolation Ward.
"The 44 cases placed in the Isolation Ward comprise 39 trainees, one trainer, a woman who had contacted one of the trainees, two trainee radiographer and a trainee nurse," he said in a statement, here, Wednesday.
In the incident on May 4, a trainee of the RTD Academy died while on the way to the Melaka Hospital while three were admitted to the ICU and the remaining 85 had to be quarantined due to the meningitis outbreak.
He said a medical team was still being placed fulltime at the academy to monitor a total of 81 trainees.
"All the trainees and their contacts who are being treated are said to be recuperating and as we have said earlier, preventive and control measures will be continued until all the cases have fully recovered," he said.
Mohd Ismail said the meningococcal meningitis infection was caused by the Neisseria meningitides bacteria which were only carried by humans and were not similar to the Nipah encephalitis or Influenza A (H1N1) infection.
-- BERNAMA
