H1N1 patient blames lax screening

Hyderabad: For the first time, a person who was infected by the H1N1 virus has spoken out saying if there had been better medical surveillance at the airport, both abroad and in India, the fear of the infection becoming a pandemic in India would have really been addressed.
Twenty-year-old Syed Reyhaan is relieved to be out of isolation. The medical student was the second in the country to be confirmed as suffering from the H1N1 influenza. He is now cured and ready to go home.
"I showed myself to the medic at London, he said you have normal fever and flu and you don't have to worry. He gave me paracetamol and sent me back. I should have been checked at least at the Hyderabad airport," he said.
The National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) Director Dr Shivlal who was in Hyderabad said up to 18 labs are being equipped to carry out rapid tests to identify those carrying the virus as level three bio-safety labs like the NICD and NIV at Pune were being overloaded.
He also said not allowing the infection to reach the community was the biggest concern.
09/06/09 Uma Sudhir/NDTV.com

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Categories: Airports Jun 2009, Foreign Jun 2009