The Indonesian housemaid who died from swine flu Thursday left the Dammam Tower Hospital 10 days prior to her death with nothing more than standard medicine to reduce her fever. Salim Al-Mirri, a relative of the family which employed the housemaid, said the woman had sought treatment at the hospital but was given no proper diagnosis and left with medicine for ordinary flu symptoms. Al-Mirri also revealed that his two-year-old niece Rinas who had been in the care of the housemaid had been admitted to hospital suspected of carrying the virus, but that her condition over the past three days was “stable and reassuring”. The Ministry of Health said Thursday that the family with which the maid was employed had all been tested for the virus and were being monitored. During Thursday's announcement of the second death from swine flu in the Kingdom, both of which have occurred in the Eastern Province, a ministry spokesman said that the region was under “no particular threat”, describing the situation as “under control.” “The ministry is doing everything in its power to confront the illness everywhere in the Kingdom,” the spokesman said. A doctor in the Eastern Province has meanwhile attributed swine flu cases in the region to the large number of foreigners and the frequent trips they make abroad. “Despite that,” said Dr. Ja'far Bin Shabar Al-Qalaf of Qatif Hospital, “the Eastern Province still shows a low number of cases compared to the rest of the Kingdom.” The 28-year-old Indonesian woman who died Thursday was the second person to die from the virus in the Kingdom following the death of 30-year-old Saudi Saleh Al-Shehri the previous Saturday. Al-Shehri's family said earlier in the week that they intended to sue the private hospital to which he was admitted for failing to provide a correct diagnosis, resulting in his death.
