Only 7 pc infected with seasonal flu in Jajarkot: Govt

KATHMANDU, APR 23 – The Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) under the Ministry of Health has said only seven percent of the patients have shown the symptoms of influenza (seasonal flu) in the epidemic ridden Jajarkot. Earlier, the division had mentioned that 25 percent of the patients showed the symptoms of flu.

The National Public Health Laboratory has informed that no other epidemics have been found except the swine flu in the blood samples collected from Jajarkot patients.

“Till now we have conducted tests on 8,255 samples from the Jajarkot, of those 753 have tested positive for seasonal flu,” EDCD Director Dr Baburam Marasini told Kantipur, “The number of patients have significantly decreased in the past two days.”

In the first phase, 12 saliva samples were brought for test, of which three tested positive for H1N1 virus or swine flu. Likewise, eight of 18 samples in second phase and five of 18 samples in third phase tested positive for swine flu, NPHL Director Dr Gita Shakya said.

According to Dr Shakya, the National Laboratory has so far detected 625 swine flu cases in 2,896 samples brought from across the country.

Source: Ekantipur.