Swine flu patient goes missing
Sanjay Ojha, TNN 6 August 2009, 10:43pm IST
RANCHI: The East Singhbhum district administration has gone into a tizzy after the mysterious disappearance of a swine flu patient. Gopal Kumar
Tiwari, 21, fled his residence on the Kodma-Sonari Link Road some time late on Wednesday.
Tiwari, a student of software engineering in Boston, had returned to Jamshedpur on July 23 on a holiday. Then he was down with a sore throat and had fever.
On Sunday, his throat swab samples were sent to the National Institute for Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, which confirmed that he had contracted the H1N1 virus.
Dr Swaran Singh, nodal officer to monitor swine flu cases in the district, confirmed that the patient had run away from his residence. "We are in constant touch with his mother, who is also a qualified doctor working for a big corporate house, to ensure that he returns home," said Singh, adding, "We are afraid that if the boy fails to take necessary precautions, people, who come in contact with him, may get infected."
Sources close to the family said Tiwari left his house some time around midnight and boarded the Pune-Howrah Azad Hind Express, which departs Jamshedpur (Tatanagar) for Howrah at 12.02 am.
"After reaching Howrah he contacted his mother. She has asked her son to come back at the earliest so that the virus does not spread among other people," said a source.
Panic-stricken residents of the locality met district administration officials and requested deputy commissioner Ravindra Agarwal to ensure that the patient is kept under strict vigilance and quarantine guidelines.
"The fresh guidelines issued by WHO permit house quarantine for a patient of swine flu. The moment Tiwari returns home, as his mother has assured, he will be confined in the house and security force will be deployed there," said Singh. Tiwari's mother refused to talk to anyone.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-patient-goes-missing/articleshow/4864130.cms
Sanjay Ojha, TNN 6 August 2009, 10:43pm IST
RANCHI: The East Singhbhum district administration has gone into a tizzy after the mysterious disappearance of a swine flu patient. Gopal Kumar
Tiwari, 21, fled his residence on the Kodma-Sonari Link Road some time late on Wednesday.
Tiwari, a student of software engineering in Boston, had returned to Jamshedpur on July 23 on a holiday. Then he was down with a sore throat and had fever.
On Sunday, his throat swab samples were sent to the National Institute for Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, which confirmed that he had contracted the H1N1 virus.
Dr Swaran Singh, nodal officer to monitor swine flu cases in the district, confirmed that the patient had run away from his residence. "We are in constant touch with his mother, who is also a qualified doctor working for a big corporate house, to ensure that he returns home," said Singh, adding, "We are afraid that if the boy fails to take necessary precautions, people, who come in contact with him, may get infected."
Sources close to the family said Tiwari left his house some time around midnight and boarded the Pune-Howrah Azad Hind Express, which departs Jamshedpur (Tatanagar) for Howrah at 12.02 am.
"After reaching Howrah he contacted his mother. She has asked her son to come back at the earliest so that the virus does not spread among other people," said a source.
Panic-stricken residents of the locality met district administration officials and requested deputy commissioner Ravindra Agarwal to ensure that the patient is kept under strict vigilance and quarantine guidelines.
"The fresh guidelines issued by WHO permit house quarantine for a patient of swine flu. The moment Tiwari returns home, as his mother has assured, he will be confined in the house and security force will be deployed there," said Singh. Tiwari's mother refused to talk to anyone.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-patient-goes-missing/articleshow/4864130.cms