Hyderabad continues to remain a hub for detecting the largest number of swine flu cases in the country. On Thursday, authorities confirmed yet another swine flu positive case, taking the total to 14. This time, an eight-year-old boy, who came to Hyderabad in a British Airways (BA277) flight from New Jersey on June 14, has tested positive for H1N1 strain.
In all, the Government Chest Hospital of Hyderabad has sent 56 blood and smear samples of patients with suspected swine flu symptoms to National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi, for confirmation. Out of 14 samples that tested positive, seven samples were those of children below 10 years.
Incidentally, the boy while travelling in the BA flight was sitting next to the another boy aged nine years, who had earlier tested positive for swine flu. The latter, being treated in the hospital, was the 13th flu positive case in the State capital.
The father of the eight-year-old boy has decided to accompany him in the hospital. As a precaution, doctors have decided to put the father on antiviral drugs.
At present, six flu positive patients and three suspected cases, awaiting NICD test results, are admitted to the Chest Hospital. “We have a large number of swine flu positive cases and this indicates that we have been successful in preventing the spread of the virus in the community,” said State Coordinator for A (H1N) influenza flu virus Dr. K. Subhakar. Meanwhile, the Interactive Voice Response (12506) centre received 15,344 calls in the last 48 hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment