Science and Health

Bangladesh reports first A/H1N1 flu death this year

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-26 19:14

DHAKA - A 34-year-old woman became the first in Bangladesh to die from complications of the A/H1N1 flu this year.

Mahmudur Rahman, head of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research under the Health Ministry, told Xinhua on Monday, "Rumana Jahangir died on Friday after suffering from A/ H1N1 flu."

According to health officials, Jahangir, an assistant professor of a private university in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, had underlying health conditions that made it more difficult to fend off the flu.

Jahangir's sister, who asked to be unnamed, said, "my sister died in an aeroplane on way to Singapore on Friday evening."

"We decided to take Rumana to Singapore for better treatment as doctors said health condition of my sister, who has undergone a cesarean operation around two weeks ago, severely deteriorated," she said, adding "Rumana died just before the plane's landing in Singapore airport."

Rumana's body has returned to Bangladesh and she has already been buried, her sister said.

The Bangladesh Health Ministry on November 8, 2009 reported that the A/H1N1 flu death toll in the South Asian country rose to 6, and that the number of infected patients was 800.