A 17-year-old girl from Sector 7 Panchkula died of swine flu at the PGI on Monday morning,becoming the first resident of the tricity to succumb to the disease. This is the fourth H1N1 death in the tricity hospitals. The three earlier victims belonged to other cities but died at the hospitals here while treatment was underway. Pallavi Kwatra,a Class X student of Moti Ram Arya School,Sector 7,Panchkula,had reported fever and flu-like symptoms in the last 3-4 days. Despite the symptoms,the girl went to a school trip to Naina Devi and Anandpur Sahib on November 7 and returned a day later. According to her uncle Gagan,who was taking care of her on Sunday as her parents had gone to Jalandhar,Pallavis condition deteriorated after she returned from the trip on Sunday. We first took her to a private clinic but there was no improvement in her condition. We then took her to Alchemist Hospital in Panchkula at 3.30 am on Monday and she was admitted there. After performing tests,doctors said it could be a case of swine flu and referred us to the PGI, said Gagan. According to PGI authorities,the patient reached the hospital at 10.30 am and died within an hour. She was bleeding from the mouth due to severe infection in her lungs. Reports indicated that her lungs were completely damaged and she could not breathe properly. The family took the patient to emergency from where she was sent to the isolation ward where her throat swab sample was collected, said UT nodal swine flu officer H C Gera. Before the sample results confirmed that Pallavi was H1N1 positive,she had died. Pallavi lived in a joint family with her father,mother,uncles and their families. Her elder brother is studying in the US and would reach Chandigarh on Tuesday for the cremation. Her family is runs a export business. According to Panchkula swine flu nodal officer Dr Jagmaal Singh,11 members of her family,including a driver and a servant have been quarantined and two samples have been collected for testing. 88 students quarantinedEighty-eight students had gone to trip with Pallavi and of these six samples have been collected for testing. School principal Uma Kapadia said the school will remain closed on Tuesday and the decision of further closing the school for a week will be taken tomorrow. All the 88 students have been quarantined. DAV Public School closedAll classes in DAV Public School,Sector 8,Chandigarh,have been suspended till November 16 after two more students tested positive for H1N1 on Tuesday. Four students of the school have tested positive so far and two classes have already been suspended. On Monday,one student each of Class VII and Class IX student tested positive,said H C Gera,swine flu nodal officer,UT. Another student of Class X of GMSSS Sector 33 also tested positive and the class has been suspended for one week. In all,six fresh samples were collected in the city on Monday.
