Ronan Kelly
Retired 2020
1st swine flu death confirmed in city
KARACHI: The first death by swine/H1N1 flu in Karachi has been confirmed by the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad. According to sources at Liaquat National Hospital (LNH), Syed Amir Ali, 34, resident of Gulshan-e-Maymar was admitted in LNH on November 28 with high-grade fever, body ache, flu and some respiratory problems.
He died a week ago in the hospital and his blood samples, which were sent to NIH for examining, confirmed that he was suffering from H1N1 flu. As per Ali?s heirs, he had never travelled abroad, which is why they did not believe he was suffering from swine flu.
Meanwhile, Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed ordered a meeting on Thursday to formulate strategy for combating possible cases of swine flu in Sindh.
Health Secretary Hashim Raza Zaidi presided over the meeting, which decided to ensure immediate reporting by all major hospitals for suspected cases of swine flu to the Influenza-A (swine flu) Cell in the Health Department and that Dr Shakeel Malik, the focal person, should be informed about suspected cases at 0321-2420780.
Zaidi informed the meeting that at present, 21 suspected cases were reported in Sindh and four were confirmed with positive H1N1 virus by NIH Islamabad.
It was also decided that training sessions in smaller groups would be arranged by the focal person to prepare master trainers for understanding the standard operating procedure for swine flu and for providing further information. The first session would be held on December 15 at Civil Hospital Karachi.
It was further decided to furnish isolation wards at all major hospitals in Sindh for receiving positive cases of swine flu and discharging them by following the WHO/CDC Protocol and all the staff paramedics/medics, when advancing to the Medical/ ENT/Chest and Paediatric wards, should take all preventive measures, such as wearing gloves and masks to reduce chances of spreading the infection.
It was agreed that WHO?s Surveillance Officers already working in the districts for Polio Surveillance should also be incorporated for the surveillance of swine flu and approved WHO/CDC Protocol should be followed for sample collecting and dispatching them to NIH Islamabad.
Ensuring availability of Relenza, a drug that can be used for patients who show resistance with the already distributed Tamiflu capsules, and availability of Viral Transport Media to collect samples for swine flu was also agreed upon.
It was further agreed that all Town Health Officers should initiate an extensive campaign with the media?s involvement for creating awareness about the disease and that all public and private hospitals should be taken on board for strengthening the surveillance system.
Civil Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Saeed Qureshi said a resistance had been seen against Tamiflu in certain patients and for these patients, Relenza had to be procured in all the major hospitals in Sindh. He also said the Influenza-A lab is under construction at Civil Hospital Karachi with the assistance of WHO/CDC and its equipment would be provided by NIH Islamabad. ppi
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\12\11\story_11-12-2009_pg12_1
KARACHI: The first death by swine/H1N1 flu in Karachi has been confirmed by the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad. According to sources at Liaquat National Hospital (LNH), Syed Amir Ali, 34, resident of Gulshan-e-Maymar was admitted in LNH on November 28 with high-grade fever, body ache, flu and some respiratory problems.
He died a week ago in the hospital and his blood samples, which were sent to NIH for examining, confirmed that he was suffering from H1N1 flu. As per Ali?s heirs, he had never travelled abroad, which is why they did not believe he was suffering from swine flu.
Meanwhile, Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed ordered a meeting on Thursday to formulate strategy for combating possible cases of swine flu in Sindh.
Health Secretary Hashim Raza Zaidi presided over the meeting, which decided to ensure immediate reporting by all major hospitals for suspected cases of swine flu to the Influenza-A (swine flu) Cell in the Health Department and that Dr Shakeel Malik, the focal person, should be informed about suspected cases at 0321-2420780.
Zaidi informed the meeting that at present, 21 suspected cases were reported in Sindh and four were confirmed with positive H1N1 virus by NIH Islamabad.
It was also decided that training sessions in smaller groups would be arranged by the focal person to prepare master trainers for understanding the standard operating procedure for swine flu and for providing further information. The first session would be held on December 15 at Civil Hospital Karachi.
It was further decided to furnish isolation wards at all major hospitals in Sindh for receiving positive cases of swine flu and discharging them by following the WHO/CDC Protocol and all the staff paramedics/medics, when advancing to the Medical/ ENT/Chest and Paediatric wards, should take all preventive measures, such as wearing gloves and masks to reduce chances of spreading the infection.
It was agreed that WHO?s Surveillance Officers already working in the districts for Polio Surveillance should also be incorporated for the surveillance of swine flu and approved WHO/CDC Protocol should be followed for sample collecting and dispatching them to NIH Islamabad.
Ensuring availability of Relenza, a drug that can be used for patients who show resistance with the already distributed Tamiflu capsules, and availability of Viral Transport Media to collect samples for swine flu was also agreed upon.
It was further agreed that all Town Health Officers should initiate an extensive campaign with the media?s involvement for creating awareness about the disease and that all public and private hospitals should be taken on board for strengthening the surveillance system.
Civil Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Saeed Qureshi said a resistance had been seen against Tamiflu in certain patients and for these patients, Relenza had to be procured in all the major hospitals in Sindh. He also said the Influenza-A lab is under construction at Civil Hospital Karachi with the assistance of WHO/CDC and its equipment would be provided by NIH Islamabad. ppi
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\12\11\story_11-12-2009_pg12_1