Swine flu scan on docs

TT, Jalpaiguri, March 10: Two doctors of Jalpaiguri district hospital are suspected to be suffering from swine flu and have been sent on leave. 

The duo were treating a 12-year-old boy from Dhupguri who has tested positive for swine flu. 

The hospital authorities have collected swab samples of the doctors and sent it to the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases in Calcutta for confirmatory tests.  

“On March 2, a boy from Dhupguri got admitted with symptoms of swine flu. We collected his swab samples and sent it to Calcutta for confirmatory tests. On Friday, we got the test reports, saying that he has tested positive. Since the boy’s admission, these two doctors were treating him. They were having fever and other symptoms since March 7,” 

said Partha Dey, the superintendent of Jalpaiguri district hospital. 

“As a preventive measure, both of them have been sent on leave. They are in a stable condition but we do not want to take any risk. Their swab samples have been sent to NICED for tests,” he added.

According to the health authorities, the 12-year-old boy is still under treatment and has been kept in isolation. 

“A six-member rapid response team of doctors was formed after swine flu was detected in the boy’s swab sample. Both these doctors were in the team,” the hospital superintendent said. 

At present, four confirmed cases of swine flu have been reported in north Bengal. They include the boy from Dhupguri, a seven-year-old girl in Siliguri and two youths from Assam who work in Siliguri.