Central team to study swine flu situation in Andhra

In the light of the increasing swine flu toll in the country, the Union government is deputing officials to Hyderabad to study and suggest further measures, if necessary, to be taken for preventing the spread of H1N1 flu virus in the state.

Though the state government feels that the situation is well under control and there is no need for any panic, chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy convened a high-level meeting on Tuesday to discuss further steps that need to be initiated.

According to an official press release, as many as 287,364 passengers have been screened for swine flu at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here ever since the first positive case of H1N1 influenza was reported in the country on May 16, 2009, from an overseas traveller who landed at Shamshabad.

Of these, 219 passengers who were suspected to be having symptoms were advised to go for detailed medical check-up. Besides, more than 70 suspects came voluntarily to the AP Chest Hospital at Erragadda here, the designated nodal hospital, to undergo check-up and treatment.

A total of 76 persons, including 22 children and 54 adults, had been tested positive for the infection so far and of which 72 had been discharged. Four patients are undergoing treatment and samples of 28 suspects are awaiting examination results. Of the affected persons, 72 are from the state capital and four from Visakhapatnam.

Since H1N1 flu made its appearance in a large scale in Pune, the state authorities are now taking measures for identifying suspects at bus and railway stations, the press release stated.

At the AP Chest Hospital, 14 isolated rooms including 6-bed intensive care unit beds have been set up for tackling H1N1 cases. The state has so far received 20,400 'Fluvir' tablets from the Centre and adequate stock of this medicine is stated to have been sent to all the district hospitals.