PGI doctor tests positive for H1N1

Satinder Pal Singh

Zirakpur, February 28

A 42-year-old additional professor serving in the Department of Plastic Surgery, PGI, tested positive for the H1N1 virus on Tuesday, making him the first case of swine flu from Zirakpur town this year.

The Health Department has stepped up surveillance and has directed its officials to closely monitor the situation.

The additional professor, a resident of Swastik Vihar in Zirakpur, has been quarantined in an isolation ward and is being given treatment. His family members, too, were given prophylactic treatment (a procedure followed in the case of the family of a swine flu patient), said sources.

Though the condition of the doctor is stable, doctors are continuously monitoring his health. Dr Rita Bhardwaj, Civil Surgeon, Mohali, told Chandigarh Tribune that the professor travelled to Udaipur from January 31 to February 4 and chances were that he might have contracted the virus there.

The sources said the doctor started showing symptoms from February 23 and was admitted to the PGI with high fever on February 27, where his sputum samples were taken for testing. The test report of his throat swab, which became available on Tuesday, confirmed the H1N1 infection, said the sources.

A family of nine, including two children, residing next to the doctor's house in Swastik Vihar, who were reportedly in close contact with him for the past one week, had also been administered drugs by a health team, besides their physical examination.

“None of the family members, however, has shown any symptoms of swine flu yet,” the health authorities said.

Nine cases of swine flu were reported from Zirakpur town in 2017 of whom three died.

2 women from HP admitted to PGI

Chandigarh: While the condition of a 20-year-old youth from Palsora continues to remain serious, two women from Himachal were rushed to the PGI after testing positive for swine flu. One of them, aged 52, is from Baddi, while the other one, aged 26, hails from Una. Both have been kept on oxygen after they complained of difficulty in breathing. At present, four patients are undergoing treatment for swine flu at the PGI.