Doctor, four others test positive for swine flu in TN

CHENNAI: Five people, including a doctor and his family from Tirunelveli, have tested positive for swine flu in Tamil Nadu, the state health minister said on Sunday.

There is, however, no cause for panic as necessary steps are being taken to contain the disease, health department officials said.

The doctor, 45, has been undergoing treatment in the isolation ward of Tirunelveli Government Medical College Hospital since Friday night, officials from the hospital said. After he tested positive for the A (H1N1) virus, tests done on his wife and parents also returned positive, they said.

“When doctors tested his family members, they found that his wife and his parents also had swine flu,” a senior doctor told HT. The fifth case is a man from Thogamalai near Trichy. Five people in Vellore, Nilgiris and Tiruppur districts have also been admitted to various hospitals with swine flu-like symptoms.

State health minister C Vijayabaskar told the media on Sunday said only four cases were serious as the patient from Thogamali had been treated in Trichy Government Hospital and was reported to be stable. “We have instructed all regional joint directors and district deputy directors of the health and family welfare department to monitor the issue.

As of now, there are only four cases admitted in Tirunelveli Government Medical College Hospital,” he said, adding that the state had “enough stock of medicine to combat” the disease.

K Kolandaswamy, director of public health and preventive medicine, asked the people not to worry.

“To avert the spread of the A (H1N1) virus, the government is taking several precautionary measures. We are supplying tablets to doctors, nurses, and attendants of patients. So, people need not worry,” he said.

He said the disease got complicated only at stage ‘C’, and none of the patients with swine flulike symptoms had reached that stage. But he advised people suffering from mild fever and throat pain to immediately consult the doctor.

“Also, it is good for people who frequently travel to do a regular check-up,” he said.

The government has opened a public health control room at Chennai for the convenience of patients, he said.

“If people have symptoms like fever, diarrhoea and jaundice, they can contact the control room,” he said.

K KOLANDASWAMY, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE, ASKED THE PEOPLE NOT TO WORRY