The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : A (H1N1) flu patient stable

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

A (H1N1) flu patient stable

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: The first influenza A (H1N1) flu virus victim in the Country, admitted to Government Chest Hospital, Erragadda, continues to remain in a stable condition. Two of his co-passengers, one 39-year-old returning from New Jersey and another from Dubai, were tracked down and admitted to the hospital with mild sore throat and cold.

The nasal, throat secretions, swabs and blood samples of these two passengers, which were sent to NICD, New Delhi for testing, have come negative. The hospital authorities said that they have sent samples of the H1N1 strain positive patient to NICD to find out the impact of the anti-viral drugs being administered to him. “We need to find out the patient’s response to Oseltamivir. He would be kept on that drug for few more days and we hope that by that time the virus would die,” says Dr. K. Subhakar of Chest Hospital. State health authorities have also pointed out that passengers coming out of cities like New York and Dubai are not being screened for flu like symptoms. “The New York and Dubai authorities do not screen passengers leaving their country. If they had screened, then the H1N1 strain positive patient could have been intercepted there itself,” officials here pointed out. Meanwhile, health authorities continued to make phone calls and contact the co-passengers of the emirates flight (EK 524), in which the H1N1 strain positive patient arrived to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

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Andhra Pradesh