Statewide alert against outbreak of H1N1 in Nagaland

The health authorities in Kohima have issued a statewide high alert against an outbreak of H1N1 in Nagaland after the number of cases reached two with one more person testing positive for the deadly virus on Saturday.

State health commissioner Sentiyanger Imchen directed chief medical officers in all districts to remain in close coordination with private practitioners as well as the army in order to tackle effectively any outbreak of H1N1 in Nagaland. Hospitals across the state have also been instructed to keep isolation ward facilities available.

While the first case, a woman from Nagaland based in Chennai, was diagnosed with H1N1 on February 18 after being admitted to the district hospital in Dimapur, the second case was a 27-year old male person, also from Nagaland, who had returned to Dimapur after spending two weeks in New Delhi, official sources said.

Altogether four persons were suspected to have contracted H1N1 in the state in the past two weeks, only two of them were tested H1N1 positive after blood samples were sent to Dibrugarh in Assam for clinical tests, official sources said.