Second swine flu death in Himachal‎, Pradesh, India

Shimla, Apr 25 (PTI) A 66-year old woman, who tested positive for swine flu, died within an hour after she was brought to Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) Hospital here in a critical condition on Monday, becoming the second victim of the disease in Himachal Pradesh.

State Epidemiologist and the state Surveillance Officer, Dr Omesh Bharti said the nasopharyngeal sample of Chyanu Devi, who hailed from Mandhol village in Jubbal tehsil of Shimla and was suffering from breathlessness for past one week, tested positive for the virus. A 55-year old woman from Sarkaghat in Mandi district died of swine flu on April 7 last. However, the test report of Chyanu Devi came after her death. "Since we had preserved the sample before her death on Monday night, we put them on the swine flu test today.

It tested positive. However, two other samples put on the test were negative", said Medical Superintendent at IGMC hospital Dr K S Rana. Bharti said the Chief Medical Officer, Shimla, had been asked to immediately send a team of Mandhal village for prophylactic treatment (Tamiflu) of those who had been in close contacts of the deceased woman. "So far, we have tested 40 samples from the state at IGMC, out of which only two tested positive. In the first case, the patient died two-three days after she was put on swine flu treatment at IGMC", he said. Source