DUMB. Ignorant. Irresponsible.

These were some of the stinging words netizens used to describe Singapore's first Influenza A (H1N1) patient, Singapore Management University (SMU) undergraduate Theresa Wee.

The third-year business management student fell ill after returning from a 10-day business study trip in New York, and became Singapore's unfortunate Patient Zero.

She had travelled with 19 other students and a lecturer.

She's a 'troublemaker', netizen deritz said on The Straits Times interactive website Stomp.

'Should sue her for bringing in the virus!' he added.

Many compared Miss Wee, 22, to Singapore's first Sars patient, Ms Esther Mok.

During a five-day holiday in Hong Kong in late February 2003 with two friends, Ms Mok, then 23, caught the then-unknown disease from an infected China national staying on the same floor of her hotel.

She fell ill and passed the virus to 22 others here, including her parents, uncle and pastor. She became known as the super spreader.

Her father died, becoming the first person here to be killed by Sars. Her mother died two weeks later.

Some people had called her 'selfish' and questioned how she lived with the guilt.

Why come back?

Of Miss Wee, shadou said on The Straits Times online forum: 'She shouldn't have come back to Singapore if she was feeling unwell.

'Remember the woman who came back from China and spread Sars here? She was the first and it killed many, including her family.

'Now this student does the same and puts us all at risk, especially those that came into contact with her during the long flight back. Totally ignorant if you ask me.'

Fellow netizen antiwisefc said Miss Wee and her schoolmates should not have travelled to the US since it has the second highest number of confirmed and suspected cases - over 6,000 to date. Ten people in the US have died from the virus.

'Can't imagine people here are so dumb...,' antiwisefc said.

'Similar to Sars six years ago, three people here went to Hong Kong for shopping during the prime stage of (the) pandemic, thus (they) got infected and started to spread the virus islandwide.

'People here don't seem to learn any lesson at all.'

antiwisefc added that the Ministry of Health (MOH) should advise Singaporeans not to travel to affected countries instead of saying that 'it is a matter of time we will be infected'.

Others slammed her and SMU for making the trip.

Stomper slowhandle said: 'If she (was) very careful and aware, she (wouldn't) be making the trip to New York at all and save (Singapore) all the trouble.'

zilchster81 wrote on online forum website soft.com.sg: 'It might have been an unfortunate oversight on her part to proceed with her trip given all the travel advisories issued.

'More unfortunate would be the people who have been inconvenienced by her. Which is why it's up to individuals to exercise discretion in postponing non-essential travel to severely affected areas.'

MOH had advised people to avoid non-essential travel to affected areas. If they had to travel, they should stay vigilant and maintain a high standard of personal hygiene at all times.

But some netizens were more sympathetic.

wyldeboon said on soft.com.sg: 'Can't blame her what... if she had to go then she had to go... it was all up to her. She just 'suay' (unlucky) that she 'kena' (got) the disease.'

Stomper smallrocher agreed.

'(The) virus is unpredictable and spreads without warning... hope that it will stay at (one case). Life moves on though.'

In a press statement, an SMU spokesman defended the decision to make the trip.

'When (we) proceeded with the trip, MOH had already lowered the alert level from orange to yellow and that the flu appeared to be mild,' she said.

'The spread of H1N1 cases in New York then was also contained and localised in the borough of Queens. This area was not part of their itinerary, neither did the students intend to visit Queens.'

The spokesman added that each student was given N95 masks and thermometers. They took their temperature daily.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, asked for his views on SMU decision's to make the trip, said: 'I do not know exactly what the study trip was about. If it was something that was very essential and time-sensitive, it had to be done - maybe that was the reason...

'So it is very hard for me to judge. But if you ask me as a friend who is planning a holiday to New York next week, I would say, 'Why don't you consider some other place as (it) would be an unnecessary risk?'

Joanna Hor and Geraldine Yeo, newsroom interns

This article was first published in The New Paper.