Youth tests positive for swine flu in Gujarat; total cases 14

Ahmedabad, Aug 10 (PTI) A youth from this west Indian
city tested positive for Swine Flu on Monday, taking the total
positive cases to 14 in Gujarat, which recorded its first
fatality due to the disease on Sunday.

"So far, we have got 65 suspected cases in the state out
of which 14 have tested positive. It includes a youth from
Ahmedabad city whose throat swab samples tested positive
today," state Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas told PTI.

Out of three positive cases in Vadodara, a girl is on
ventilator while the condition of two others is stable,
Principal Secretary, Health, Ravi Saxena said.

Vyas said 14 patients, both suspected and confirmed, are
undergoing treatment in government hospitals.

"Five persons are admitted to hospitals in Ahmedabad,
three in Baroda and two in Surat," Saxena said.

He said two suspected persons in Surat tested negative
for Swine Flu yesterday and have been discharged while one new
suspect case was registered in Vadodara on Monday.

The state recorded its first flu fatality on Sunday when
a 43-year-old NRI, who had come here from Atlanta in the US
ten days back, died due to the disease.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Narendra Modi called up Union
Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and asked for 250 reagent
kits, used for testing blood samples of suspected Swine Flu
patients, besides supply of Tamiflu tablets.

According to officials in chief minister's office (CMO),
Modi also requested the health minister to involve private
hospitals in testing and treatment of Swine Flu patients.

"Following the telephone conversation with the chief
minister, union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has directed
the Ministry to supply kits and tablets to the state," an
official in the CMO said.

Meanwhile, officials said the three cases that tested
positive for Swine Flu in Vadodara include a nine-year-old boy
and an eleven-year-old girl who recently returned from
Virginia, USA.

Both the siblings were admitted to the hospital on
Thursday.

The third positive case is that of a seven-year-old girl
from Akota locality of Vadodara and she was admitted to the
hospital on Wednesday last, they said.

Their blood and throat swab samples were sent to National
Institute for Communicable Diseases, New Delhi, which tested
positive. PTI MPL
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