May 2, 2009 at 11:17 AM
Swine flu detected in India: Reports
A 25-year-old man, who returned from Texas about a fortnight ago, was admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in the national capital with suspected H1N1 flu symptoms, authorities said today.
The youth from Ghaziabad turned up at the hospital last evening with swine flu symptoms and is presently under observation, N K Chaturevedi, Medical Superintendent of RML hospital, told PTI.
The man landed in Delhi [Images] on April 19 and had fever for two days on April 24, he said, later he became asymptomatic.
"However, due to media coverage, he himself turned up at the hospital last evening. We have kept him under observation in the isolation ward. As of now there are no symptoms of flu and he may develop some antibodies," he said.
Chaturvedi said all tests have been conducted and a report is expected in a couple of days.
"We have done all tests and taken all samples. He will be in observation for three days and we may decide on his discharge after Monday based on the report we get," he said.
A senior Health Ministry official said four to five cases were brought to RML in the past 24 hours but they were discharged as they did not show any symptoms of the H1NI flu.
"We have sent the samples to National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the report is expected in two days. Relatively, he is safe," Chaturvedi said.
He said RML is fully equipped to handle any case of H1N1 flu.
"We have a full-fledged isolation ward. There are 20 doctors and 12 nurses there. We have adequate stock of Tamiflu tablets also," he said.
With the H1N1 flu spreading to more countries across the globe, the Government has said a total of 2,000 passengers, who have come in from the affected countries, have already been tracked and are being kept under watch.
The Centre has also decentralised its stockpile of Oseltamivir, the drug which is most effective against the virus and Personal Protection Equipments (PPE) for the health workers.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture has issued an advisory to all state Governments to maintain a precautionary vigil on the swine population for any flu-like symptoms.
