Health dept collects swab samples of 15 Raj MLAs to test for H1N1

Health department officials today collected swab samples of 15 MLAs to test for swine flu at the Assembly here after BJP MLA Amrita Meghwal tested positive for the deadly H1N1 virus. Jalore MLA Meghwal tested positive for the virus yesterday after which Health Minister Kalicharan Saraf asked the director (Public Health) to instruct all district chief medical and health officers to screen people who had come into contact with those tested positive for swine flu, according to a release. "We have taken swab samples of 15 MLAs at Rajasthan Assembly. The samples will be sent to a laboratory for confirmation of swine flu," Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Narottam Sharma said outside the House. It is to be noted that MLA from Mandalgarh constituency, Kirti Kumari, had succumbed to the swine flu virus last year. Leader of opposition Rameshwar Dudi was also suspected to be affected by swine-flu, but the confirmatory report was negative. According to the Centre's Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme report released on February 11, Rajasthan reported 871 cases of swine flu, the highest in the country; of them 578 from Jaipur alone. The report said 1,022 people tested positive for swine flu in the country this year so far. Jammu and Kashmir stood a poor second in the list with 27 cases. Gujarat had 16 cases, Madhya Pradesh had 7 (with two deaths), Haryana had 13 (with two deaths), Delhi had 19 (one death) and Uttar Pradesh had 10 cases (one death).