Two kids tested positive for swine flu in Ranchi

RANCHI: Two seven-year-old children who were brought to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) Ranchi on March 5 and 7 have been tested positive for swine flu (H1N1) on Saturday. The said kids were getting treated at different private hospitals and were referred to RIMS for tests.


Speaking to TOI on Sunday, RIMS superintendent Dr Vivek Kashyap said: “We had received two outdoor patients at the paediatrics ward and after preliminary examination their sample were collected and sent to Kolkata for lab tests as they were showing symptoms of swine flu.

We received the tests results on March 9 and both the patients were tested positive for H1N1. RIMS administration has forwarded the test results to district health authorities and Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) authorities who are tracking the patients now.”

With two more patients tested positive for H1N1 the total number of infected patients toll stands at 52 in the last two months which have been detected this season. Health department was on alert and had issued guidelines after cases of avian flu were detected in Ranchi, Bokaro and Godda districts. The first case came from Gomia block of Bokaro and Mehrama block of Godda districts when samples of crows and poultry were tested positive for H5N1 on January 28. Similar cases were also reported from Ranchi and Deoghar when samples of crows, maina and poultry were tested positive on February 7 and March 1 respectively putting the health machinery on red alert.

A letter was issued by state’s health secretary on February 8 directing all the districts to keep an extra vigil on people who are involved in poultry business and working in affected areas. The health officials are also directed to advertise the precautions in their hospital premises and to advertise the same in the affected areas to create awareness among the people about the disease.

After the recent detection of cases the district IDSP authorities are tracking the patient so that they can be admitted at the isolation ward of RIMS for better treatment. “We have tracked one of the patients and IDSP team is working with them to get them admitted at isolation ward. We are facing some difficulty in tracking the other patient and hopefully we will be able to do it in a couple of days,” said V B Prasad, Ranchi civil surgeon.

“As the district IDSP team has been apprised about the situation, they will be carrying out screening in the respective areas from where the cases have been reported and if anyone is found to be a suspected case their samples will be collected for tests,” added state IDSP officer Dr. Rakesh Dayal.