Man with suspected symptoms of swine flu in Uttarakhand

New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) A 50-year-old man, who recently
returned from swine flu-affected Hong Kong, was admitted to a
hospital in Uttarakhand in India's northern part with
suspected symptoms of the disease as authorities continued to
screen passengers at all the international airports across the
country.

Health officials collected swab and blood samples of J B
Joshi and sent them to New Delhi-based National Institute of
Communicable Diseases (NICD) for tests.

Joshi, who complained of fever, cough and weakness, was
admitted to Haldwani Base Hospital in Nainital district.

He had returned to India on May 16 after visiting South
Korea and Hong Kong. Three swine flu cases have been confirmed
in Hong Kong so far.

Authorities have alerted all hospitals of the state.

Meanwhile, test reports of a man, who had been sent to
the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Kolkata with symptoms of
swine flu, are yet to arrive.

Though some of the tests done in Kolkata proved negative
for swine flu, the final reports of the swab and blood tests
sent to New Delhi are yet to come, Director of Health Services
Aniruddha Kar told PTI here Thursday.

The man -- Shyamal Sarkar -- had landed at the Netaji
Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport by an Emirates
flight from Dubai Wednesday with fever, upper respiratory
tract infection and other symptoms similar to swine flu.

He was sent to a hospital immediately by the medical
unit at the airport.

A resident of Ranaghat in Nadia district, Sarkar works
as a carpenter and has come home on leave.

Health Ministry officials in Delhi said, so far
samples of 80 persons have been tested. This includes the one
tested positive for swine flu in Hyderabad.

Till date, about 7.86 lakh passengers have been
screened. Three passengers, one disembarking at Coimbatore and
two others at Delhi airport, have been referred to identified
health facilities. PTI DPT