The Hindu : Front Page : 3 in Puducherry test positive for A(H1N1) flu

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Saturday, Aug 15, 2009
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3 in Puducherry test positive for A(H1N1) flu

Ramya Kannan and Serena Josephine M.

CHENNAI: Three persons in Puducherry have tested positive for the A(H1N1) influenza and have been quarantined.

They are being treated as in-patients at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER).

One of the patients who tested positive, a 22-year-old, returned from Pune three days ago to visit her parents and showed symptoms of flu.

Another person, a 22-year-old man, had recently come from Jammu and Kashmir and had a history of contact with a confirmed case of A (H1N1). A 60-year-old inhabitant of Puducherry, who had returned from France a month ago, also tested positive for the flu. Initially, he was admitted to a private hospital with complaints of fever and was diagnosed with pneumonia. He was shifted to JIPMER on August 11.

The three positive confirmations came in a batch of 16 samples sent to the King Institute of Preventive Medicine, Guindy, Chennai. Though JIPMER has been recognised as a testing centre by the Union Health Ministry, it has not yet received the kits. So throat and nose swabs continue to be sent to Guindy. Seven more samples were sent there on Friday.

At a review meeting convened by Additional Secretary in the Union Ministry of Health Jose Cyriac, theissue of non-availability of testing kits was raised. V.K. Subburaj, Principal Secretary, Health, said Tamil Nadu had decentralised their purchase.

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