The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Three more in city test positive for swine flu

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Thursday, Jun 18, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Three more in city test positive for swine flu

Staff Reporter

Additional doctors and nurses deputed to RGICD

Of the 15 samples sent to NIV, nine tested negative
Samples of a woman have been sent second time

Bangalore: Three more persons, including a 12-year-old student, who returned from the U.S., South Korea and Bangkok, tested positive for swine flu on Wednesday taking the number of confirmed H1N1 cases in Bangalore to five.

These positive cases are three of the 15 samples that were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune for tests on Tuesday. While nine of these samples have tested negative, test reports of three more are awaited.

The three cases that tested positive on Wednesday are Indians, who returned from the U.S., South Korea and Bangkok on June 15 and June 14. They had reported for screening on Tuesday and were quarantined immediately as their symptoms warranted admission. “We have already started treating them with Tamiflu and will closely monitor their viral load for the next 10 days. The 29-year-old mother and her three-year-old daughter, who had tested positive on Saturday, are responding well to the treatment,” RGICD director Shashidhar Buggi said.

The reports of the 30-year-old woman, whose samples were sent on Wednesday morning for a second tests as NIV authorities were unable to arrive at a conclusion regarding this person, were yet to come, a senior doctor at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) said.

Doctors at the institute, who are working over time to screen the increasing number of people turning up voluntarily, screened 16 persons, including three children aged between one and five, on Wednesday. Twelve samples apart from the two that had already tested positive had been sent to the NIV, doctors said.

With more number of people turning up for screening day by day, the State Health Department has deputed two doctors from the Jayanagar General Hospital and two paramedical staff from the Epidemic Diseases Hospital at the RGICD on Wednesday, he said.

No information

Indian passengers arriving from abroad seem to be fuming at the lack of awareness and information given to passengers by the health as well as the airport authorities of these countries. Speaking to The Hindu over the phone Swaminathan K.R, a software engineer, who returned from the United Kingdom a few days ago has screened himself Rajeev Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases voluntarily as he felt that the facilities for passengers at the London airport were not sufficient.

“This is a bad trend, and the responsible authorities must have better exit checkups,” he asserted.

“They seem to be more concerned with screening baggage rather than passengers” he added.

As of now Mr. Swaminathan’s blood samples have been sent for testing, and while he is not quarantined, he has chosen to stay in isolation at home till the results of his samples were made known.

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