June 24 :  A 19-year-old boy, who came from the US to spend his holidays at his home in Punjab, has tested positive for swine flu here.

This is the first confirmed case of influenza A(H1N1) virus in Chandigarh, a health official saidn on Wednesday. The youth was studying computer science in California in the US and had returned June 20 to his home in Gurdaspur in Punjab, about 250 km from here, to spend his holidays. "The patient was admitted to 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," Union Territory nodal officer for swine flu H. C. Gera told IANS. "We got the confirmation from NICD on Tuesday late evening that he had 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. Meanwhile, health officials of the administration also quarantined seven members of the youth's family who came in contact with him. "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. Earlier, eight cases of swine flu were tested positive among students in Punjab who returned from an educational tour from NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in the US.

 

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