PGI lab starts working,first lot tests negative

Five fresh samples were collected from hospitals on Wednesday. They are being tested at the PGI lab and their report would come by Thursday.

PGI has been chosen by the Union Health Ministry as one of the 16 new centres to test throat swab samples of suspected cases.

This will reduce load on the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD),Delhi and curtail the delay in test reports pending at NICD for the last 5-6 days. Over 25 samples are still in queue at NICD.

The UT Health department said only fresh cases would be tested at the PGI lab. “Only new samples would be tested at PGI. The pending ones would be tested in Delhi,” Dr G C Bansal,nodal officer for swine flu,said. “In any case,we are expecting results of the pending samples in a day or two.”

Dr Rathoo said the lab had been functioning for the last two days. Now,the entire load of samples collected in the region will be shifted to PGI,he added.

Officials at PGI said patients should not demand testing of their samples. “The tests have to be recommended by the doctor or the nodal officer treating the patient,” the official said.

Points to remember

1. In terms of human suffering and death rate,swine flu is in no way different than the seasonal flu.

2. As the virus spreads primarily through respiratory secretions and person to person contact,restrict the spread of the virus within the community.

3. Testing for swine flu should not be an individual’s choice. According to the Centre’s revised guidelines,a doctor should decide on the matter.

4. The throat swabs or nasopharyngeal swab should be transported in ice and tested by Real Time PCR,as recommended by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC),Atlanta,and followed by NICD,Delhi and NIV,Pune.