A recent study has discovered that most adults in Singapore remain susceptible to the Influenza A (H1N1) virus as only 13% developed immunity after being infected.

The study, conducted by Public Health and Academic Authorities in Singapore and Australia, was the first of its type to examine blood samples of about 3,000 adults from four different cohorts.

The groups were from the community, military staff, personnel from Tan Tock Seng Hospital, and employees and inhabitants from Jamiyah Home for the Aged and Peacehaven Nursing Home. The results supported the Government's summon for the population to be inoculated against Influenza A (H1N1).

On Wednesday, addressing a media conference, Clinical Director of the Communicable Disease Centre, Leo Yee Sin disclosed that only 6% of admitted patients at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) accounted having been immunized against the flu.

She said, “With this inference, the number is extremely low in a developed country like Singapore. Overseas, the rate is between 30 and 80%”.

From the blood sampling done as the 2009 epidemic continued, around one in eight adults became infected with A (H1N1), with higher infection rates amongst military personnel and much less amid healthcare employees.

The study came out in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday.