The boy, a student of an international school in the area, is currently admitted at a private hospital.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has conducted door-to-door screening in Malad after a six-year-old boy from the suburb tested positive for H1N1 (swine flu). The boy, a student of an international school in the area, is currently admitted at a private hospital in Malad. He lives with his parents and grandparents and preliminary investigations by the BMC to find out the source of infection showed the family had no history of travel. The civic authorities have also sent public and private hospitals a list of guidelines on how to manage the disease. These were sent once before in January. "There were a few cases of fever in the area which we have investigated. We are trying to find out the source of infection," said Dr Mini Khetrapal who heads BMC's epidemiology department.
The child who had fever for the past 6 days is now reported to be stable and his fever has subsided. "Last year too we had only 6-7 cases of H1N1 while Pune had several. This is the first case this year. We had already sent both public and private hospitals a set of guidelines with regards to the diagnosis and isolation ward among others in the end of January," Dr Khetrapal added.
The civic body is sending the guidelines again at the heels of this diagnosis. Meanwhile, the international school where the student studied had declared Friday an off with the authorities saying that the school would be disinfected. The school will re-open only on Monday. BMC said that they have not given any directions to the school.
H1N1 is an air-borne infection that is spread when a person comes in contact with infected droplets. "Elderly, pregnant women, children and those with diabetes should see the doctor immediately in case of a fever," Khetrapal added. “H1N1 is easily treatable. The important thing is to start the treatment on time. Both extremes of age - children as well as the elderly are the ones most at risk,” said Dr Om Srivastava, city’s leading infectious disease consultant. He added that the condition subsides in around five days but it is important that those infected stay away from public places or cover their mouth while coughing and sneezing.
Symptoms
Cough
Fever
Sore throat
Stuffy or runny-nose
Body aches
Headache
Chills
Fatigue
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 "Swine Flu")
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