Mumbai-based engineer tests positive for swine flu

A 36-year-old engineer with a private firm has been diagnosed as the first patient of swine flu in Maharashtra, health officials said on Saturday. He is suspected to have contracted the disease during a recent visit to Honduras in Central America, they said.
    
"We have received the medical reports of the patient, which confirmed that he has swine flu," Dr Pradeep Awate, who is heading the state health department's influenza cell, told PTI. The patient has been quarantined at the Kasturba Hospital and his condition is presently "normal", he said. "His condition is normal and he has only mild fever and
running nose. He is responding to treatment," Awate said.
    
The engineer had gone to Honduras on June 8 and returned to India on June 15 via New Jersey in the US. After his arrival, the engineer suffered from a mild fever and cough and consulted a physician at Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in suburban Andheri. The physician referred him to Kasturba Hospital in central Mumbai, the nodal centre for treatment of H1N1 viral infection in the city.
    
The results of his throat swab tests were received on Friday which confirmed Swine flu, Awate said. Health officials visited the house of the patient and met relatives with whom he had close contact. "We have advised his relatives to isolate themselves in home. They have been advised not to have close contact with others for now," Awate said.
    
Another 24-year-old man was also quarantined at Kasturba Hospital yesterday after he showed symptoms of swine flu. His throat swab samples have been sent to National Institute of Virology in Pune for test, he said. No other case of H1N1 virus was reported in the state so far, he said.