25 more test positive for swine flu

Twenty-five more people, including 13 children and one pregnant woman, tested positive for swine flu on Friday, taking the total number of positive H1N1 cases in the city this month to 250.

Twenty-five more people, including 13 children and one pregnant woman, tested positive for swine flu on Friday, taking the total number of positive H1N1 cases in the city this month to 250.

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While 100 cases of swine flu were registered in the month of June, the number of people who tested positive for the H1N1 virus from July 1 to 16 has already touched 250.

But this shouldn’t be a cause for concern, said Dr GT Ambe, executive health officer, BMC.

“About 30 per cent of the city’s population has developed antibodies to the H1N1 virus, which is already in the air. It’s just like any other flu. But people in the high-risk categories should be over-cautious,” said Ambe.

As long as patients are administered Tamiflu, there is no cause for concern, he added. “Frankly, one needn't bother about throat swab testing for swine flu either, if the patient has been put on a course of Tamiflu,” said Ambe.

Between July 1 and 15, BMC health workers also visited 609 construction sites in the city and tested blood samples of 7,166 construction workers, who had fever, for malaria.

Of these, 351 people were administered anti-malarial drugs, while 6,964 people were administered presumptive treatment for malaria.