Infectious disease: Swine flu case surfaces after three years

National Institute of Health confirms presence of H1N1 virus in 30-year-old man hailing from Karak district.


Our Correspondent February 13, 2014
National Institute of Health confirms presence of H1N1 virus in 30-year-old man hailing from Karak district.

PESHAWAR:


A case of swine flu emerged from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday after a gap of almost three years.


The National Institute of Health (NIH) confirmed the presence of the H1N1 virus in a 30-year-old man hailing from Karak district.

Khyber Teaching Hospital’s Professor Dr Mukhtiyar Zaman Afridi told The Express Tribune the patient was admitted to the hospital five days ago and they sent his blood sample to the NIH for a swine flu test which was confirmed on Wednesday.

However, the doctor refused to disclose the patient’s name, stating he belonged to Karak and was under treatment at the KTH’s isolation ward.

He said the patient was out of danger but he would remain in the hospital for the next two weeks.

“We had received suspected cases of the flu earlier but their tests came out negative,” added Afridi.

Tamiflu, the anti-viral drug used to treat the H1N1 strain is available in sufficient quantities at all government-run hospitals, the doctor claimed.

Swine flu is a highly contagious acute respiratory disease found mostly in pigs. It can spread from one infected person to another by touching an infected surface or breathing in cough and sneeze droplets.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2014.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ