Suspect tests negative for swine flu,discharged

Twenty-one-year-old Shweta Joshi,who was quarantined in Mumbais Kasturba Hospital after she reported symptoms of the dreaded swine flu,was discharged on Friday after her swab samples tested negative.

We had sent her blood and throat swab samples to Punes National Institute of Virology and the results were negative. Thats why we have discharged her on Friday evening, said BMCs executive health officer Dr Jairaj Thanekar. This was the first suspected case which was admitted in this hospital.

Joshi,a resident of Canada,landed in Mumbai airport and reported sore throat,fever and flu-like symptoms to health authorities. We had to put her in isolation because she complained of symptoms of swine flu. This was just a routine precaution we had to take,now she is perfectly fine, said dean of Kasturba Gandhi Hospital Dr Umesh Aigal

He added,She had to be admitted to the hospital because she had high fever and sore throat. But the tests revealed it was just an ordinary flu and hence there is no need to panic.

According to doctors from the Kasturba Hospital,the patient had gone to Baroda her native place after getting discharged.

State health officials monitoring the Influenza A/H1N1 virus cases had said two persons were earlier tested for swine flu in Mumbai in April,but both were tested negative. One of them was traveling from Mexico to Mumbai and the other from the UK to Hyderabad. They said eight persons had been tested for swine flu in the state so far and all were reported negative. Five persons were tested at Naidu Hospital in Pune and three in Mumbai.

As many as six persons are now being tested for swine flu in the country while samples of 52 others have been tested negative for the dreaded disease.

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