Andhra Pradesh government has initiated steps to trace all those who had travelled in a British Airways flight from Philadelphia to Hyderabad via London on May 31 after three people onboard were detected with Influenza A (H1N1) or swine flue.
While a 28-year-old techie was found carrying the dreaded infection on June 2, three days after his arrival when he went to a doctor to get prescription for high fever, two others which included a young woman and her four-and-a-half-year-old daughter tested positive.
The mother-child duo were sitting next to the techie throughout the flight.
The techie, who was screened at Hyderabad airport on arrival and got a clean chit by doctors, also infected his 24-year-old brother during his three-day stay at home.
“His is the first case of a person contracting the infectious diseases without stepping foot outside the country. We have sent their blood samples to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, New Delhi, for analysis,” Health secretary LV Subrahmanyam said.
Four more people who travelled in the same aircraft on May 31 have been called to the hospital and are under observation.
The government on Saturday appealed to passengers who travelled on the BA flight that day to come forward and get themselves tested for swine flue without any further delay.