A Sabah Man Who Tested Positive For Zika Has Died From Heart Complications
The 61-year-old died on Saturday afternoon.
By Sadho Ram — 03 Sep 2016, 10:15 PM
A 61-year-old Dusun male from Taman Public Jaya in Likas, Kota Kinabalu, who had no record of travelling abroad recently, and became the first locally transmitted case of Zika infection in Malaysia, has died from his heart condition
In a statement released earlier today, 3 September, Health Ministry's Director-General Datuk Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah said, "The Health Ministry is investigating further the patient’s recent travelling history. It was found that this Zika infection is most likely from a local source of infection, as the patient did not have any recent travelling history abroad and was probably been bitten by an Aedes mosquito infected with Zika."
"He was scheduled for heart surgery next month. The death is not due to Zika. The virus only Causes mild symptoms and signs, not death," Dr. Noor Hisham told The Star Online
The man developed a high fever on 27 August and was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 2 on 31 August
Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah said the 61-year-old man, who died at 5.30pm today, also had other co-morbidities such as high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, kidney stones, and gout.
"However, the full results of the investigation on the cause of death are still pending," Bernama reported the Director-General as saying today, 3 September.
Earlier, Noor Hisham had said that although the test results showed that the blood and urine samples of the patient tested positive for Zika, his serious clinical condition was perhaps due to his existing co-morbidities and not primarily due to the Zika infection.
The Health Ministry, meanwhile, has started vector control activities in areas where the patient frequented, and will also closely monitor his friends and family to determine whether they may have caught the Zika virus as well
