A second Malaysian has been confirmed to be infected with the A /H1N1 flu virus at the Penang Hospital in northern Penang state, Health Ministry deputy director-general Ramlee Rahmat said on Saturday.

The patient, a woman, was admitted to the Penang Hospital on Friday and the results were confirmed on Saturday morning, he said.

She was a friend of the first patient who was confirmed with the virus at the Sungai Buloh Hospital in central Selangor state on Friday, Ramlee said.

She was also on the same flight as him from the United States, he added.

Both patients are in stable condition.

The first patient, a 21-year-old male student, who flew on Malaysia Airlines flight MH091 from New Jersey, the United States, to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) via Stockholm in Sweden, has been placed in an isolation ward at the hospital near here since Thursday evening for treatment.

Ramlee said the woman's family, as well as two other friends of the two infected, were put under home quarantine.

The Malaysian health official also said the fever of the first confirmed patient had dropped and his five family members under quarantine also have not shown symptoms.

The staff of a private clinic that first contacted and placed under home quarantine have shown no symptoms of the virus infection, he added.

Ramlee said 35 of the 192 passengers aboard the flight had contacted the ministry.

Of the 192 passengers, 81 Malaysians and 38 foreigners were still in Malaysia and 73 have left the country.

The ministry has informed the World Health Organization about the 73 people who had left so that the countries of destination could be notified, he added.

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2009)