How little the screening of passengers at airports can help in preventing an outbreak of the H1N1 flu was again highlighted when two men showing flu symptoms were quarantined in Pune.
How little the screening of passengers at airports can help in preventing an outbreak of the H1N1 flu was again highlighted when two men showing flu symptoms were quarantined in Pune on Monday, just hours after they arrived at Mumbai airport. Both landed separately and travelled to Pune in separate taxis.
A 33-year-old marketing consultant, who returned from Spain on Sunday night, himself reported at the civic-run Naidu Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Pune around 11am on Monday. The other person, a 23-year-old IT professional who returned from New York on Sunday morning, first reported at the city’s Jehangir Hospital on Monday and was then referred to Naidu Hospital.
Naidu hospital medical superintendent Dr DV Barathe said both have shown flu symptoms — sore throat, temperature, bodyache, and respiratory tract infection.
Virologists from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) have collected their throat swabs. Institute director AC Mishra told DNA that the results are expected within 24 hours.
Barathe said the families of both men have been told not to step out of their homes till the test results are out.
Asked why they didn’t approach doctors at Mumbai airport itself, Barathe said the duo claimed they were normal on arrival but started showing flu symptoms only after reaching Pune.
Uddhav Gavande, deputy director, health services (Maharashtra), said, “Both patients showed no symptoms when they were screened at the airport in Mumbai. It was only when they reached Pune that they felt feverish.”
International passengers arriving from countries affected by or feared to be affected by the H1N1 flu, formerly called swine flu, are only required to fill a self-declaration form, giving details on how they spent the past eight days, whether they came in contact with any infected person, and whether they developed any flu-like symptoms.
Only passengers reporting flu-like symptoms are required to undergo the mandatory health checks at the special medical enclosures at airports. Those showing definite symptoms are straightaway quarantined and shifted to the designated hospitals.
But what about those who can’t describe adequately their symptoms, or misinterpret the declaration form, or report incorrectly for fear of being kept in isolation?
So there is every chance of an infected person clearing the screening at airports.
NIV chief Mishra admitted that screening at the airports “is not a foolproof system”, but it is “the best available method”.
The two men who have been quarantined in Pune had filled the self-declaration forms.
Virologists say the symptoms also depend on the incubation period. Though researchers are still debating the incubation period for the H1N1 virus, it is estimated to be anywhere between one and seven days.
Infectious diseases and travel medicine consultant Dr Pallavi Bhargava explained that the virus takes some time to enter a person’s bloodstream before it multiplies and begins to manifest itself.
“It is possible that the person may be free of any symptoms while at the airport as the virus may still be in the incubation period,” said Bhargava. Such person may develop symptoms within the next six hours.
A senior virologist at the NIV said the screening at airports may not be able to detect “asymptomatic” fliers, who are carriers but don’t show visible symptoms.
Even the World Health Organisation has time and again said it will be difficult to contain the flu outbreak. The global health body has said that Influenza A, spread by the H1N1 virus, may affect two billion people worldwide if it becomes a pandemic. Currently, WHO has raised its alert to level 5, a step lower than a pandemic.
—With Sumitra Deb Roy in Mumbai
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