Bhubaneswar: With swine flu affecting school children in Orissa`s Sundargarh district, the state government on Saturday asked the Union Health Ministry to supply liquid tamiflu for treatment of paediatric patients.
Of the 16 patients so far tested positive to H1N1 virus, eight were girl children, Health Minister Prasanna Acharya said after a meeting on swine flu chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The disease was spreading in tribal dominated Sundergarh. While a woman died of swine flu in the state, several school children staying in hostels were suffering from cold and fever, Acharya said.
While five girls of a Kanyashram at Jhanipalli under Rajgangpur block area were tested positive to H1N1, two girls from nearby Tudalaga school were found carrying the virus.
What had come as a major headache for the health administration was that 170 inmates of a Navadoya Vidyalay at Sargipali also developed symptoms of the disease.
"We have collected swab samples of two students from Navadoya Vidyalay for test", the minister said adding all the district authorities were alerted about the disease.
Though the state government claimed to have stored sufficient medicines, it was unable to find reason behind spread of the disease among children in Sundergarh.
Bureau Report