Black Beauty is down .. again ..

For the second time in weeks, the black beauty had experienced a leak in the power steering system. All this while, we had managed to get by using Amiaq's magic potion no 1, but this time it did not help. Need to bite the bullet & get the component changed, but due to limited availability of second hand parts, the progress had been slow. So much so that I had to forego my teaching session in Taiping tomorrow. Else it would be my return trip to Taiping since last Thursday..

Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan

The March school holidays was spent in the north, with specific food instructions :

1. Kwey Tiau Goreng Doli, Taiping

~ no pics, too busy eating ~

2. Mee Banjir Udang Mak Teh, Kuala Sepetang,

3. Nasi Ketam, Warung Pak Su, Bagan Nyior, Juru, Penang

4. Roti Canai Argyll Street Penang

5. Seafood Dinner at Penang

That was a tall order and to my surprise, we managed to go to all those and had finished everything that we ordered. Officially, I'm above the limit of my cholesterol / uric acid intake for the month, now need to call my reflexologist for some detox session and to keep fit for upcoming dive trip in Sipadan, else I'll end up looking like a dugong in my wetsuit.

ps. Stay at Jana View Condotel in Taiping, room rates are on the cheap site, quite good accommodation unit with a sofa-bed but the breakfast leaves a lot of improvement to be made. RM60/night during the school holidays, what more can I say ...

Micheal Phelps in the making

My uncle had refurbished his pool (kolam ikan to be exact) because he's trying in a new venture. Previously he had bred patin & keli and when the harvest time came, the fishes were snapped up real quick. But then the pool has some problem, so he drained the water and let it dried for almost two years. During that time he did rear some fish in the surrounding parits, but as usual it became targets for thieves. Imagine almost 1000 fishes of the talapia, baung and patin varieties slowly dwindling due to theft. Not to mention the water pump as well.

The refurbish pool will be housing some udang galah, with maturity and harvesting period around 14 - 16 weeks. Then maybe we could have some udang fiesta ... watch this space ..

Four pools

Eager testers

Ready to set the world record

Berendam sampai kecut

Traffic Offense

There I was, driving to my alumni dinner in Royale Chulan, KL using Jalan Pekeliling. I took the turn off to Bulatan Kg Pandan and try to cut left to go towards Berjaya Times Square when I was topped by two traffic police doing 'ops' there.

TP : Encik dah belok pada tempat yang salah, minta IC & lesen ...

me : Salah macam mana tu?

TP : Encik sepatutnya buat bulatan baru boleh masuk sini. Encik kena tengok arrow kat jalan tu ..

me : Oh ye ke.. saya tak perasan sebab saya jarang masuk KL.

TP : Encik duduk mana ?

me : Saya duduk Puchong. kerja kat PJ, jarang masuk KL . Hari ini pun sebab ada function and kawan kata suruh belok kiri kat sini.

TP : Takpelah Encik.. kami akan tulis kesalahan seperti begini (shows me the previous summons slip)

me : ok.

The TP then went round the car, so called checking my road tax and other things.. I was ready for him to fill in the book and sign it off ..

TP : macam ni la Encik, kira saya kasi warning kat encik ajelah kali ini, lain kali jangan buat lagi ..

Hmmm... made me wonder whether he's trying to nego something from me or what, the moment he says I'm in the clear, I straight away drove off ...

Close encounter of the slithery kind

We were back in Pekan for the long CNY hols and also to celebrate Adi's birthday there. On the second day of CNY, about dusk, we heard a commotion coming from the chicken coop. A quick inspection by Peh confirmed that one of the chicken had been attacked by a python and the offending snake serpent is still there trying to swallow the lifeless chicken.

So out Peh went with a parang, torch light and a rope loop. I follow suit with my camera and flash, trying to capture the 'historical' event. I brought the boy along in order to show him how a live snake is being captured.

The snake had nowhere to go as it has exhausted itself in constricting the chicken. The chicken is not the normal ayam kampung, but of another variety, which is about 1.5 times the normal chicken, hence it had difficulty in swallowing the chicken whole. What Peh did was to knock the snake on the head and tie a loop around its neck and carried it away from the coop. The snake is about 2m in length, probably still a juvenile. From Peh's account, this is the third time the chickens had been attacked but as their sizes are a little bigger than your average chicken, it couldn't swallow it, hence the decision to kill the snake before it launches subsequent attacks.

The pics showed it all, plus the boy posing at the lifeless snake after its all done.

Trying to corner the phyton

Success!

Sizing the snake out

Aiman tak takut pun ...

The lifeless serpent

Do we have all the time in the world?

I'm still trying to achieve balance in my life. At the moment it was not as what I wanted it to be. As usual, new year work schedule is filled with activities and it has been taking me away from home a lot. Even when I'm in the office, the amount of work is SOOOO Much, that right now maybe its like waiting for the last straw to break the camel's back.

In an ideal world, I would like to have all my work during my office hours, with the rest of the time spent at home. I know I haven't been much of a help to the mrs, who's singlehandedly running the home and wish I could do something more to relieve her. Plus my kids are also commenting that I'm always outstation. Hmmm ...

Now even they are calling me to work during the weekends, and with the songel in my HR department, getting an off day for work done during the w.end is like asking for a pot of gold.

Now have to relook on how to reorganise my life with the current situation ...hope it would just be temporary...

KK, KK & KK

I will be going to KK three times this month.

The first time was last week, from 16-19 Jan 2010. The nest one is this coming Wednesday.

The third one would be 1st Feb 2010, albeit only to Kuala Kangsar. Hehe.... 3 kk trips jugak kan ...

Touch & Gone

I have been using Touch & Go (TNG) since 1999, back during the days when they haven’t integrated the toll paying system. The only reason I got the TNG is that to use the then PLUS only highways as the other like SPRINT and LDP are using their own KESAS or LDP tag.

In a way, I have found that the reload system of other tags is way more efficient than the Touch & Go. Imagine this, you sign up for an integrated credit card with TNG with the anticipation of hassle free reloading but what you get is not. One case in particular is that I passed through Sungai Besi and upon exiting in Seremban I have been told by the machine that the card is not valid. WTF?

I also have another TNG which was linked to my credit card for reloading and after one reload which have been credited to my TNG, they called me up saying that I haven’t been paying for my top up along with a legalese letter. I told them to shove back the TNG card where the sun doesn’t shine.

My then LDP tag was not giving me any problem at all. At exactly RM 10, it will reload to the preset value and straight away debited to my banking account. No hassle at all. But then the heavy hand of government wanted to streamline all the payment into one and no guesses needed. TNG is the preferred method. So everyone had to migrate. FINE. I got another one to use. Along the years I have also bought an additional TNG & Smart Tags for the mrs.

Then they came up with some press release saying that certain cards form certain years will not be usable any more and the user have to get new cards. I read about it in the news but didn’t expect them follow thorough but I guess the smell of money made them do it.

If we keep on using our old card then they can’t supply new cards right? They must have been going through the numbers and realize that supply of new cards are slowing down and what way to generate more income on top of the % charge to all the operators using TNG. Why deactivate a fine and working car other than to rake in more money from the consumer. Curse you TNG & Rangkaian Segar.

All has been done, now up to divine help

A friend of mine from school is now experiencing some serious medical condition. His predicament started off with a one day viral like fever, developing into near paralysis of the limbs and eyelids the next day, deteriorating vitals, put in chemically induced coma and life support machine. All this in the span of 3 days.

Whilst the details of his illness couldn't be shared here, suffice to say that his own antibody is attacking his central nervous system, which created all the chaos to his body. What we are told is that the medication given to him is super expensive, bordering to RM40k.

My batch mates are organizing some sort fund raising and solat hajat for him. I just wish that he could recover from this and even though the diagnosis is that he would have to undergo a long recovery period. My prayers goes to him. Get well soon.

Hong Kong Trip

Sorry for the delay , a lot of pending post not yet published. For the Hong Kong trip, the photos could be viewed here ... Facebook link .. story coming up later ...

Tiredness creeping in

The last few weeks have been hectic for me... almost every week I have to go away for work and as there's a public holiday every friday in Dec, its like working a 4 day week. It's like every week I'm in a different city and sometimes I forgotten where I am. I even was called to work in JB during Boxing Day, where I'm suppose to be spending it with my family. Sigh ...

My physical activities in Dec have halted to a grind, I only manage to catch 45 mins of swim last Tues in Equatorial Melaka 25m pool. I long for my usual laps in the cold water of Bukit Jalil, the sense of tranquility and peace as I traverse the length of the pool. I also long for my runs.

I need to increase my energy level energy, now forever feeling lethargic. Hope that thing will improve in 2010.

Jual air liur

Part of my portfolio now is giving presentation to the operation staff and my dept is planning a massive roadshow-cum-meet-and-greet thingy. Three regions have been identified and plans are being made for us to touch on current issues. I think each of us would be given around 2 hours to talk on our expertise.

It will involve travelling to the respective region and spending a 2 day session with them. To the east would mean a balik kampung trip, the south and north would mean travelling alone.

Now is the time to jual air liur and to gauge how the operation staff acceptance towards the issues that we have to talk upon. Now if only my air liur is like the swallow's, selling at RM4-5K/kg, just think how much I can make per session. hehe..

11 months have gone

I've just realised that 11 months in 2009 have gone, leaving another 3 weeks to go. This time around, December is going to be a busy month for me, with my GM dropped a bombshell last week. Almost all the remaining weeks in December would be filled with outstation trips. Almost all weekends would be occupied with wedding and my lil sis wedding preparation.

As a start, here I am in KB doing a day trip, which is now getting tiring to me. Looking back, I could do day driving trips to JB but now it seems a chore. Age catching up on me I guess. Next week Kuantan, then Melaka then Ipoh.

I still haven't been able to update this blog as frequently as I like, also haven't been downloading stuff as I like. And I felt like even if I sleep straight during the day I still couldn't recover from the state of perpetual sleepiness. And I don't think I'm making any sense typing this.

Farcical Exercise

No, I didn't mean me doing all sort of funny things to be justified as physical exercise, but rather the annual song and dance routine that we got once an audit is pending. This years theme, Hogwart's Magic Elementary 101 - conjuring non existing documents and backdating them ...

I mena, tahun ni tah apa tah mimpi my SGM yang selected me to be the contact person for one of my dept's processes and procedures, up to the point of freezing all outstation trip & leave. I have a 3 day HV course in UTM next week, so it looks like I may have to forgo that ... or if i could get someone to replace me in the office doing the conjuring thing.

It was supposed to be finished by today, Friday the 13th, but I have came down with quite severe fever ... hmmm..whether or not to come in for the day or get MC ... looks like its gonna be health first as KPI pun memanag dah kena potong kan, so tak payah le beria-ia ...

Quick Updates

It's been quite a while since I last updated this, the last being the raya pictures. Got a lot on my hand and mind and by the time I want to commit thought to text, something came out.

Work - been travelling a lot nowadays, everyone s set new KPI to meet and all want it to be done before the year end. So in a month, expect to see me all around Peninsula running around meeting someone else's KPI. I was also appointed (finally) tot the position that I have applied and went to interview for three times ...

Personal - celebrated my 35th birthday ... another milestone in my life, thinking of changing the black beauty into a kompressor version without breaking the bank, the boy had someone knocked into his nose at school and bled, haven't had time to muhasabah diri pun lagi .... got a family trip to Hong Kong before AidilAdha ..

On a different note, condolences to Bhumi & family for the passing of his dad. Semoga dia ditempatkan dikalangan orang yang beriman.

On another note, two of my friends are going to perform the haj this year. May you obtain what haji yang mabrur...

Aidilfitri 2009

Some shots of us taken at Pekan ..

All of us

The mrs, Abang & Lil-miss-chief

Mami. Abang & Adik

Me & The kids

Adik & female cousins - Wawa, Aliya, Afaf & Ain

Birases - menantu Ustaz Mohamed - Me, Sofi, Rizal, Abg Long & Amran

Adik & Aki

Aiman & Pokde Azim

Adik Posing control Ayu

Eid Mubarak

First and foremost I would like to wish Eid Mubarak to all who knows me. We would be spending the first few days in Pekan this year, to celebrate with our PM on his first raya of PM. To be honest, all this while, we haven't made it to his open house but we might try something different this year.

For me, this raya has lost a little lustre, maybe due to work presure etc, but at least I would try to have a little of it for the kids. I mean, up to now, I still haven't gotten round to change the monies, or getting some of the usual stuff that I would have already done previously. Maybe the last two days might gave a a reprieve in my schedule to do that.

Will be coming back to KL on the third day of raya, so if anyone is around by then, then maybe we could catch up. Till, then and if I wasn't able to meet any of you in person, Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin.

One more week to go

There's another week to go for Ramadhan. After that it will be back to normal routine f or us. I felt that this year, everything is passing by at the speed of light. Time flies so fast that looking back, it has already been September where events that happen a year ago is still fresh on our minds.

This year, we will be celebrating Eid in Pekan, Pahang. Who knows, we might join the PM's function thus year, :-0. For me, this Eid somewhat seems ordinary, maybe because the mood has not set in yet. Maybe I'm getting too old for this. Normally during this time, most of the shopping's are done, I'll be getting the bunga api & duit raya done, but this year it seems lacklustre. Plus waiting to be appraised for past year's performance at work, which doesn't help a bit in turning on the raya mood.

Maybe I should just be grateful with what I have at the moment and savour whats left of Ramadhan.

ps. today is the 8th anniversary of the WTC incident. I still remember watching the TV thinking what movie they are playing with the burning buildings and plane crashing into it. Aiman was about 2 months then...

It's been a while

It has been a whike since I updated this blog. Almost a month. After my stint at home quarantine, I found myself wanting to write but couldn't.

I haven't been posting about my Aussie work trip and also my pre Ramadhan dive. Also forgot to write about welsoming the holy month of Ramadhan. Things have been on the hectic side since we are maidless and I for one are still coping with it. Also about Hari Kemerdekaan yang ke 52.

I think all of us have been adjusting to the changes gradually and thing looks to be on the upside. Hope that I will find my writing mood again, before Eid. Till then, Ramadhan Mubarak.

ps.. hopefully you all have been following 15Malaysia, short videosfeaturing real issues faced now.

A(H1N1) flu: Updates on 10 FAQs — Dr David KL Quek

From the Malaysian Insider

A(H1N1) flu: Updates on 10 FAQs — Dr David KL Quek

AUG 6 — 1) Can we distinguish between regular and H1N1 flu, without a lab test?

No, the flu is the flu, but there are variations in presentation. Some symptoms such as cough, runny nose, fever, body aches, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhoea occur more or less in every flu patient, but may present differently by different people. Some infected people have very mild symptoms, some in between, and a small minority, probably less than 10 per cent, have severe features including the dangerous pneumonia.

However, from sentinel testing and surveillance by the Ministry of Health the last few weeks have shown that almost 95 per cent of all flu-like illness are now caused by the H1N1 virus. Earlier some months ago, seasonal flu variants caused by the B and other A virus were the main causes, the bug causing most flu these few days is the A(H1N1). This appears to be the case also in neighbouring countries, meaning that the new virus is causing more havoc and symptomatic illness than previous types of flu (which are still in the community).

Because almost every flu-like illness (influenza-like illness or ILI) is due to H1N1, the MOH is now recommending that no testing to confirm this H1N1 will now be offered.

Treat as if this is H1N1 for ILI — symptom relief for mild symptoms (paracetamol, hydration, cough medicines, etc) and self-quarantine, social distancing, be alert for complications.

Most (70 per cent) do not need any anti-viral medications such as Tamiflu or Relenza. Only severe cases need to be referred to hospital for further treatment.

2) How should doctors decide if a person be given further specific treatment for H1N1?

If after 2-3 days, fever and cough symptoms do not improve, a recheck with the doctor is recommended, especially if there are features of difficulty breathing, severe weakness and giddiness, or, if the following risk factors are present:

1. obesity (fatter patients seem to have poorer outcome and more complications)

2. those with underlying diabetes, heart disease

3. those with asthma, or chronic lung disease

4. pregnant women

5. those with reduced immunity, cancer patients, etc

6. those with obvious pneumonia features

3) Many anxious people with flu-like symptoms want to be tested or treated for suspected H1N1, but are kept waiting or sent home, without being tested. Is this practice right?

There is no right or wrong practice as this outbreak is extensive and is stretching our resources to the limit. This is also the case not just here in Malaysia, but also elsewhere around the entire world!

The recommendation is now not to spend too much time and effort trying to get tested at designated hospitals or clinics — there is probably no need to do so. I have been informed that as many as 1,000 patients queue anxiously at Sungai Buloh Hospital for testing, due to fear of the H1N1 flu.

So the message must be made clear: Most flu illness do not require confirmatory testing, and are mild and self-limiting. More than 90 per cent will get better on their own, with symptomatic treatment — just watch out for possible complications, and risk factors as mentioned above.

Our resources are limited especially for testing. This is not just for Malaysia, but globally as well. The global demand for test kits and reagents for the H1N1 (PCR) is overextended and are rationed due to this extreme demand.

Some 200 million test kits have been deployed worldwide, but this supply is critically short because of excessive demand, so most countries have to ration testing to confirm only the worst cases, so as to monitor the pandemic better.

4) Are doctors confused as to what to do in this outbreak, especially when they do not have ready access to confirmatory lab tests?

Not really. Earlier on there was some confusion as to what to do next and who to test or who to refer for further testing and admission. Now the rules are clearer.

There is no need to do any testing to confirm the H1N1 virus for any ILI — just assume that this is the case in the majority of cases. Treat symptomatically when symptoms are mild, reassure the patients and ensure that these infected patients practice good personal hygiene, impose self-quarantine and social distancing, wear masks if their coughing or sneezing become troublesome, and keep a watchful eye on whether the infection is getting better or worse.

If there is difficulty breathing and gross weakness, then patients should quickly present themselves for admission. Understandably this phase of worsening is not always clear or easily understood by everyone... But there is not much more that we can do — otherwise we will be admitting too many patients and this will totally overwhelm our health services.

But prudent caution would help to determine which seriously ill patients need more attention and more intensive care. Unfortunately however, there will be that odd patient who will progress unusually quickly and collapse even before anything can be planned — hopefully these will be few and far between.

A more important note is that all doctors and nursing personnel should be very aware that they too have to take precautions, and employ barrier contact practices, if there are patients with cough and cold during this period of H1N1 outbreak, which is expected to last a year or two. Carelessness can result in the physician or nurse or nurse-aide becoming infected!

5) Are there sufficient guidelines from the Ministry of Health to address this situation?

I think there are sufficient guidelines from the MOH. Although some politicians have blamed the MOH and the minister for being inept at handling this pandemic — in truth this is not the case.

It is useful to remember that this is an entirely new or novel virus, which no one previously had encountered before — thus its infectivity and contagiousness is quite high and almost no one is immune to this virus.

Perhaps, there will come a time when all the resources from both public and private sectors can be put to more efficient use. Some logistic problems will invariably occur, because human beings differ in their capacity to understand or follow directives, whatever the source or authority.

Also patient demands have been extraordinarily high and at times very difficult to meet — every patient necessarily feels that his flu is potentially the worst possible type and therefore requires the most stringent measures and testing...

Doctors are also unsure as to the seriousness or severity of this new ailment — and we are only now beginning to understand this better — so our less than reassuring style when encountering this new H1N1 flu is sometimes detected by an equally anxious patient and/or their relatives.

But there is only so much that we can do under such a pressure cooker of an outbreak which is spreading like wildfire! But nevertheless we should not panic, and remember that most (more than 90 per cent) of infected people will recover with very little after-effects. Possibly only one in 10 patients develop more serious problems which necessitate hospitalisation.

6) Is limiting H1N1 testing only to those who have been admitted to hospital justifiable?

I have explained the worldwide shortage of such testing kits and reagents. Also it is near impossible to test everyone, the world over. Besides, knowing now that almost all the flu-like illness in the country is due to H1N1 makes it a moot point to want to test for this, especially when most are mild.

The rationale for testing only those who need hospitalisation is to ensure that we are dealing with the true virus, and also help to isolate possible changes or mutations to this viral strain. The MOH is also constantly doing sentinel surveillance (random spot-testing at various sites around the country to determine more accurately the various virus types and spread that are causing ILI).

7) Are we short of anti-virul drugs (Tamiflu, Relenza)? Should I take Tamiflu?

These antiviral drugs were available to most doctors during the earlier scare of the bird flu virus, but now are severely restricted, although some orders are still entertained from individual doctors, clinics or hospitals. Remember that these have been block-booked by more than 167 countries which have been shown to have been penetrated by the H1N1 flu bug.

Our MOH has actually stockpiled some two million doses of the Tamiflu or its generic form. In the last inter-ministerial pandemic influenza task force meeting, this stockpile will be bumped up to 5.5 million doses to cover some possible 20 per cent of the population.

Right now there is no shortage in the country. It is just that it is not readily available on demand for anyone just yet. The MOH is still of the opinion that this antiviral drug be used prudently and would like to register every patient given this drug.

The private sector on the other hand would like to have a looser control over the use of this drug — but we acknowledge that we should be meticulously prudent in its use. There is a genuine fear that resistant strains to this drug may develop with indiscriminate and unnecessary use — then we will all be in trouble with a drug-resistant H1N1 virus run amok!

Drug-resistant strains have been detected in Mexico, border-towns in the US, Vietnam, Britain, Australia even. So we have to be vigilant and closely monitor the situation. Right now, the very limited usage of Tamiflu gives us good reason to be optimistic.

However, because of some unusual patterns of seemingly well people dying or having very critical infections, some people and doctors are wondering if these new strains have already reached our shores... or have we been too late in instituting proper treatment...?

The rising number of deaths to 14 now is quite worrisome, but our health authorities are watching this development very closely and are also checking the virus strain to see if this has mutated. We can only hope that this is not the case, for now.

8) What are some of the problems faced by doctors in dealing with the H1N1 problem?

It would be good if every medical practitioner keeps a close tab on the H1N1 pandemic, and remain fully aware of the developments and changes, which are evolving daily. Every doctor has to be learning on the trot, so to speak, to keep up with the progress of this outbreak and its management, so that we can serve our patients better.

Logging in to the Internet regularly for more updated information will certainly help, instead of lamenting that not enough is being disseminated via the media thus far... Every doctor has to be more proactive and practice more responsible and cautious medicine during this trying period which is expected to run into at least one to two years. Importantly, look out for lung complications, and the above stated higher risk profiles, and refer these patients quickly for further care.

Easier access to antiviral drugs and their responsible use and monitoring would help allay public fears of delay in treatment, but this should be tempered with care and not over-exuberance to dish out to one and all, the precious antiviral drug, just for prevention — this may be a very bad move which can inadvertently create a worse outcome of drug-resistant bugs.

However, in the light of the very quick deterioration of some young patients who have died, it might be prudent to use antiviral treatment earlier and more aggressively.

We look forward to the specific H1N1 vaccine, when it does come our way, probably towards the end of the year. In the meantime, encouraging those in the front-line, heart or lung patients and frequent travellers to have the seasonal flu vaccination is a useful adjunct to help stem the usual problems from other flu types.

9) Are we doing everything that should or needs to be done?

Yes, if you check what other nations are doing, we are doing relatively well. We are not overstating the dangers and we have been quite transparent on the possibilities of this pandemic. Earlier, many agencies and even the public and doctors have accused us of exaggerating the pandemic, and our response was dismissed as being too much, even over the top! Unfortunately, it was only when some deaths occur that many are now decrying that we have done too little!

Also if you are quite honest about it, just compare with the countries globally, and you will notice that no one health or government authority has got this right, spot on.

We are all learning about this novel flu pandemic, and each country's response is coloured by its past experiences. In Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia we have had the SARS outbreak, so we are necessarily more paranoid! Also here the experience is that flu does not usually cause death in our community, unlike the west where seasonal flu kills some hundreds of thousands every year!

So the fear factor for this H1N1 flu is not nearly as great in the West, although it is slowly sinking in that its contagiousness and infectivity is far greater, and fears of its reassortment to a more virulent mutant form are growing, into the so-called second and/or third wave of this pandemic, but we will not know until a year or so down the line.

10) Is the public in general doing enough to help in controlling the outbreak?

I think the public is now reasonably well-informed as to this H1N1 pandemic. Perhaps, they are too well-informed, that they have a fearful approach to this virus. But the proper thing is not too over-react and to panic, although I know this does sound easier said than done.

It is almost a certainty that this flu will spread within the community — in schools, universities, academies, factories, work places, offices, etc. WHO has projected that possibly some 20-30 per cent of the population worldwide will become infected by this novel flu bug, after studying various models of spread of past infections — the huge and very rapid spread worldwide is mainly due to air travel. While older flu pandemics took six months to extend to so many countries, this H1N1 flu did so in less than six weeks!

In the worst-case scenarios of course, this outbreak will be alarming — hospitalisations may be required for 100,000 up to 500,000 Malaysians, with perhaps as many as 5,000 to 27,000 infected patients (depending on the case fatality rate or either 0.1 to 0.5 per cent) succumbing to this illness.

But because we have been monitoring closely and containing the outbreak thus far, with heightened awareness and greater social responsibility, it is possible to ameliorate the infectivity, spread and fatality that will unfortunately accompany this pandemic... Just how successful we will be in limiting these adverse outcomes remains to be seen, but we can be hopeful.

How can the public help? First learn and acquire good personal hygiene. If sick, please be responsible and stay at home, even in your own room where possible, wear a face mask (a cheap three-ply surgical mask will do, because large droplet spread is the main danger). Do not go out, practice what is now known as social distancing (about three metres from anyone), and be socially responsible, don't go to public places and infect others — for young people this would be hard, but absolutely necessary — the spread is most rampant in this age group between 16 and 25 years.

When the illness does not go away after a few days or when you are deteriorating, get to the nearest hospital. Most importantly, be very aware and responsible!

Finally, keep abreast of all new developments, because these are evolving all the time. With keen awareness, prudent care, early detection and social responsibility, correct and prompt use of antiviral and other support medical care, and later mass specific vaccination, we can overcome this novel H1N1 flu! But it will take time, patience, public cooperation, much concerted effort and consume great resources.

Dr David KL Quek is president the Malaysian Medical Association.