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Journalism of Courage
Health authorities and the Pune Municipal Corporation are now tracking Reeda Sajid Shaikhs movements over the last fortnight to trace people she may have come in contact with. On Tuesday alone,the state home-quarantined 105 people whom Reeda had met, 27 of them from her family and 78 from Jehangir Hospital.
But to contain the H1N1 onslaught,officials need to first figure out how Reeda was infected. We tested Reedas mother and cousin for H1N1,but they have tested negative. This makes it even more complicated for us to solve the riddle as to how Reeda caught the flu. The mother of the 14-year-old,who was the closest to her,has tested negative, said Maharashtras nodal officer for swine flu Dr Pradeep Awte.
The authorities have charted out a map to trace her relatives,friends,and classmates. Information about where she was since July 21 has been documented.
After the initial treatment administered by a private practitioner,she was actually feeling better; in fact she even went to school, said Usman Kareem Gildar,Reedas cousin. On July 23,she showed up at St Annes school for an hour.
The Shaikh family has been pressing for all St Annes students to be screened stringently for H1N1. We do not know how Reeda got the virus,but some of her classmates may have come in danger. We have lost our child,but other children should not, Gilder said.
Health authorities also said that Reeda went to the movies with her friends,when she was briefly well. The PMC now has the mandate to track all the people who had come in contact with Reeda at the theatre. The name of the multiplex has not been released. Its actually quite easy to track the theatre. We should know in a day of two, Awte said.
The third point of contact has been Reedas tuition centre,Ranpise Classes. Geeta Ranpise,her tutor,has made it public that all her students are in good health. Reeda was in any case absent from the tuition centre for the last two weeks,she said. Awte said all the students there would be screened.
Many of them would be from other schools as well, he said.
Ironically,Reeda was born in Jehangir Hospital. Relatives said the family went to Jehangir doctors for most of their ailments. It was perhaps natural that on July 21,the family took young Reeda there. On July 21 she had fever and cold and was taken to the local GP Dr Sanjay Agarwal who provided symptomatic treatment. She felt better. However,she had fever again on July 24 and took rest. We consulted Dr Agarwal again who responded with treatment for viral flu. When her condition worsened,she was admitted to Jehangir on July 26 after midnight, said Aysha Sheikh,Reedas aunt.
