CHENNAI: Chennai corporation officials on Sunday continued their hunt for two patients who tested positive for H1N1 virus a day earlier but could not be traced after their addresses were found to be incorrect.
The search acquired increased urgency after a 75-yearold man died of the infection in Tirupur district on Saturday, the first reported swine flu death in the state in more than ayear and a half.
The civic body also put private doctors on high alert for symptoms of the infection especially if accompanied by other health complications. Civic body officials began looking for the two missing patients in private hospitals too, apprehensive that they may pass on the infection to other people.
"We can now only confirm that these patients have not been admitted to any major government hospital or any of the primary health centres across north Chennai," said city additional health officer G TThangarajan.
The corporation launched a search for the patients on Saturday after officials of the civic body discovered that the addresses in the Stanley Medical College & Hospital registry were found to be fake. Only one of the patients had a cellphone but it was switched off. The samples were drawn from the patients who are believed to be around 10 years old at the outpatient ward of Stanley Medical College on March 28. Though officials insist that they have notified all private hospitals and clinics to be alert to symptoms, a few private doctors in the city said they haven't received a specific notification from through email or paper.
"We test patients if they require hospitalization due to unabated high fever. It is not an epidemic as yet, but we have to be alert," said Ram Gopalakrishnan , an infectious diseases specialist at Apollo Hospitals.
"Around 98% of H1N1 infections can be treated, especially if the patients are young and healthy. Hospitalization is required only for patients with other complications like blood pressure or organ failure," Gopalakrishnan said.
Doctors mainly check for the virus in children under five, pregnant women and obese patients , who are most vulnerable to the disease. "They are most likely to contract the virus easily , but have lesser resistance," the doctor said.
Union health department statistics in January 2010 show, 71% of recorded H1N1 deaths in the country were of patients between 13 and 45. The Chennai corporation has stocked up on Tamiflu (the antiretroviral drug oseltamivir) to treat patients in case of an outbreak of the contagion.
The search acquired increased urgency after a 75-yearold man died of the infection in Tirupur district on Saturday, the first reported swine flu death in the state in more than ayear and a half.
The civic body also put private doctors on high alert for symptoms of the infection especially if accompanied by other health complications. Civic body officials began looking for the two missing patients in private hospitals too, apprehensive that they may pass on the infection to other people.
"We can now only confirm that these patients have not been admitted to any major government hospital or any of the primary health centres across north Chennai," said city additional health officer G TThangarajan.
The corporation launched a search for the patients on Saturday after officials of the civic body discovered that the addresses in the Stanley Medical College & Hospital registry were found to be fake. Only one of the patients had a cellphone but it was switched off. The samples were drawn from the patients who are believed to be around 10 years old at the outpatient ward of Stanley Medical College on March 28. Though officials insist that they have notified all private hospitals and clinics to be alert to symptoms, a few private doctors in the city said they haven't received a specific notification from through email or paper.
"We test patients if they require hospitalization due to unabated high fever. It is not an epidemic as yet, but we have to be alert," said Ram Gopalakrishnan , an infectious diseases specialist at Apollo Hospitals.
"Around 98% of H1N1 infections can be treated, especially if the patients are young and healthy. Hospitalization is required only for patients with other complications like blood pressure or organ failure," Gopalakrishnan said.
Doctors mainly check for the virus in children under five, pregnant women and obese patients , who are most vulnerable to the disease. "They are most likely to contract the virus easily , but have lesser resistance," the doctor said.
Union health department statistics in January 2010 show, 71% of recorded H1N1 deaths in the country were of patients between 13 and 45. The Chennai corporation has stocked up on Tamiflu (the antiretroviral drug oseltamivir) to treat patients in case of an outbreak of the contagion.
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