Father’s agonizing wait still not over
NST, 24 Feb 2006

For Dalwanto Sairun, the waiting is not over although a blood test showed his 18-month-old son Mohd Haikhal was free of the H5N1 virus.

The 43-year-old trader said medical experts at the quarantine ward of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital had told him they still had to conduct several tests on his son.

"My wife informed me early this morning that we will have to wait and this means another sleepless night for me," he said this evening.

His wife, Iryani Derih, 38, who is staying with their youngest child, said Haikhal’s fever was coming down.

"But the doctors have taken his saliva and stool samples for testing," she said at the hospital.

Haikhal was admitted yesterday as he had been having fever over the past four days.