India has five more swine flu cases, total stands at 73 (Roundup)

Five people, including an eight-year-old boy and two teenagers, were detected to have been affected with swine flu Wednesday, taking the total number of influenza A (H1N1) cases in India to 73, health officials said.

Two of the new cases are from Delhi, while one each is from Madurai, Hyderabad and Chandigarh, according to the officials.

"At least 532 persons have been tested so far. Of them, 73 are positive for influenza A(H1N1). Of these, six are indigenous cases, who got the infection from the positive cases who travelled from abroad," said an official statement.

In Delhi, a 40-year-old man and his wife tested positive for the flu. The man had travelled from the US via Germany and was accompanied by his 39-year-old wife. Both of them had developed fever, sore throat and body ache.

"They reported to the identified health facility on June 22. Their samples were given for testing and the report showed that they were infected with the virus,” a health official said.

The eight-year-old boy, who came from the US via Mumbai, reached Madurai June 13. His family reported his case to the health facility June 18.

The fourth case is from Chandigarh where a 19-year-old youth was found to be infected with the flu. He had also travelled from the US and reached New Delhi June 20.

"He travelled by road to Gurdaspur. He developed fever, cough on June 22 and reported to the health facility at Chandigarh,” the official said.

The boy studies computer science in California and had come to spend his holidays at his home in Punjab.

"The patient was admitted to the government hospital in Sector 16 of Chandigarh Monday with a complaint of high fever, running nose and sore throat. Seeing his travel history, we admitted him here in an isolated ward and sent his throat swab samples to NICD (National Institute of Communicable Diseases) in New Delhi," H.C. Gera, union territory nodal officer for swine flu, told IANS in Chandigarh.

"We got the confirmation from NICD on late Tuesday evening that he has tested positive. Our team of doctors is observing him and his condition is stable. There is no need to panic and we are fully equipped to deal with the situation," he added.

"More than a dozen cases of suspected swine flu came to Chandigarh hospitals in the last few weeks but this is the first positive case," Gera said.

Seven members of the boy's family too ahve been quarantined.

"The condition of the family members is normal and they have not shown any symptoms of swine flu till now. However, we would monitor them for the next few days as a precautionary measure," Gera said.

The fifth case was reported from Hyderabad where a 15-year-old girl, who had come from Hong Kong via Singapore and reached the city June 19, developed complaints of sore throat, running nose and fever. She was admitted to an identified city hospital June 22. Her report confirmed Wednesday she was infected with the flu.

Officials in Delhi said a 66-year-old woman, who was admitted to a hospital in the capital after her condition deteriorated, is now in a stable condition.

The woman had contracted the flu from her son. She was put on ventilator after her condition worsened as she also suffered from chronic respiratory illness.

Of the 73 cases in the country, seven have got the virus through human contact, the officials said.

Of these 73 cases, 43 have been discharged and the rest remain admitted to the identified health facility, they said.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), at least 55,867 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection have been reported from 108 countries. There have been 238 deaths worldwide, mostly from Mexico and the US.

Last updated on Jun 24^th, 2009 at 21:09 pm IST--IANS