Thaindian News

Hyderabad, July 13 (IANS) India’s tally of swine flu cases crossed 200 Monday as eight people here were confirmed to be suffering from influenza A (H1N1), officials said.
There was a sudden spurt in swine flu cases here as health authorities Monday confirmed eight new cases, taking the city’s tally to 31.

Six of the new cases contracted the virus from a software engineer who arrived here from Houston July 5. The eighth confirmed case is a two-and-half-year old boy who came from Dubai.

Samples of all the eight were sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi, where they tested positive.

According to the state coordinator for swine flu K. Subhakar, all the infected people have been admitted to Andhra Pradesh Chest Hospital, the nodal centre for swine flu here.

He said the software engineer did not approach the Chest Hospital till July 9 despite having swine flu symptoms.

“Meanwhile, six other people who came in contact with him contracted the virus,” said Subhakar.

This is the first time that such a large number of cases in the city have tested positive for swine flu in one day.

With this, the number of patients undergoing treatment for the disease at the Chest Hospital rose to 11. Doctors said 20 people were discharged after treatment during the last two months.

Meanwhile, three people who reached here from Sharjah and were found to be displaying visible symptoms of swine flu have been kept under observation at the Chest Hospital. Their throat and nasal samples were sent to NICD for tests.

With the latest swine flu cases here, the tally of swine flu patients countrywide has crossed 200. According to the health ministry, 133 people have been discharged, while the remaining are undergoing treatment at various hospitals.