Thaindian News

Hyderabad, June 16 (IANS) A nine-year-old boy who arrived here from the US is infected with swine flu, health authorities confirmed. This takes the number of A(H1N1) flu cases in Hyderabad to 13 and in India to 31.
The boy, who arrived by a British Airways flight from New Jersey two days ago, has been quarantined at the Andhra Pradesh Chest Hospital, the nodal centre to deal with swine flu cases.

Doctors at the hospital said the New Delhi-based National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) Tuesday confirmed that the boy’s samples were infected with the swine flu virus.

With this, the swine flu cases in this metro have risen to 13, the highest in India. It was exactly a month ago that India’s first swine flu case was confirmed here.

All infected people except one came from abroad. The lone man who was found infected without travelling abroad contracted the virus from his brother, a techie who had come from Philadelphia.

Now seven people are under treatment at the Chest Hospital. Six people were treated and discharged from the facility in the past one month.

The patients here include six children. A 20-month-old boy and a six-year-old girl who came from New York are among those undergoing treatment.

Hospital authorities are awaiting the test results of the samples of two air travellers who were suspected to have symptoms of swine flu.

The officials of the US consulate here met K. Subhakar, coordinator, HINI influenza nodal centre, and other state health officials and held talks with them.

The talks were significant as almost all the people found infected here had come from the US.

The consulate officials also inquired about the condition of four Indian Americans, who tested positive for swine flu.

State authorities Monday opened a helpline to provide information on symptoms of swine flu and to guide people about whom to contact for diagnosis and treatment.

People can dial BSNL toll-free number or send SMS ‘H1N1HYD’ to 55352 to seek all the information about swine flu.

The Interactive Voice Response (IVRS) facility has been developed by Syed Mohammad, the CEO of city-based Voicegate Technologies, whose son Syed Rehan recently recovered from swine flu.