IN THE early days when it was claiming lives in Mexico and spreading to the United States, Republic Polytechnic (RP) student Nicholas Lim Kai Hung thought the Influenza A (H1N1) virus was "something like avian flu".

When it hit Singapore in late-May, "I expected a few deaths here", said Nicholas, a first-year biotechnology student. "I took a lot of precautions. I didn't want to get it."

But the 17-year-old did - three days after RP reported its first two cases. Last Thursday, the 17-year-old woke up with a fever, headache and mild cough. When a classmate told him she had tested positive for H1N1, Nicholas called for a 993 ambulance. At Alexandra Hospital, he spent four days being treated with Tamiflu, Panadol and cough syrup.

It was like his worst bout of flu ever, as he put it. The fever and headaches were "much stronger" than usual, said the teenager who said he comes down with mild flu every other month.

"It was a throbbing pain around the left side of the brain, and the medication made me giddy. When I got up to drink water, my body would lean to one side."

Isolated in a room on his own, Nicholas spent two hours daily on the phone talking to his family and his girlfriend, and napped and watched TV the rest of the time. "The toughest part in the hospital was trying to make myself sleep. I took about half an hour to fall asleep, I don't know why," he said.

But by day three, he was feeling better and was able to enjoy the "wonderful" hospital food such as mee goreng, said Nicholas who was discharged on Monday and ends his home quarantine on Friday.

As the number of H1N1 cases looks set to cross the 1,000 threshold this weekend - Friday's tally stood at 969 - the statistical likelihood of Singapore seeing its first H1N1 death rises.

On one hand, cases here have been mostly mild and the majority, like Nicholas, recover fully. On the other hand, the threat of complications is real for those who are pregnant, very young, elderly or with underlying health conditions.

SUBHD: Foetus' heartbeat monitored daily

A seven-month-pregnant Madam Teti Hidayati can count herself fortunate.

The 23-year-old mother of a toddler came down with high fever and body aches on Monday. She was warded at KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

After a day, her fever subsided, but she remained in the hospital for eight days and had her foetus' heartbeat monitored daily.

Not allowed visitors, Mdm Teti chatted with the nurses who came to take her temperature, and called her husband, sister and friends when she felt lonely. She did not tell her family in Indonesia about her H1N1 infection, as she didn't want them to worry.

But under the nurses' care, Mdm Teti said she never doubted that she and her baby would be fine. "Maybe I'm the only (such) case," quipped the Indonesian who is a Singapore Permanent Resident.

On the day of her hospital discharge, however, Mdm Teti had a minor scare. Her 21-month-old daughter also came down with fever. Her husband sent the toddler to Tan Tock Seng Hospital where she tested negative for H1N1.

Now that Mdm Teti is back helping to run the family's Internet café, she said her brush with H1N1 has led her to "take care of my body and not overwork."

As for others who may yet catch the bug, she said: "I want to tell patients not to worry, that there's hope for recovery,"

Nicholas' message to the public is to "take care of themselves, and for those with H1N1 to bear with it and complete their course of medication".

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