Mizoram officials screening people for HINI virus

Aizawl: The Mizoram government has began screening of people entering the state through National Highway-54 near the Mizoram-Assam border town of Vairengte to detect people infected with H1N1 virus, a senior health official said Tuesday.

The screening began yesterday, Nodal Officer of the state Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), Dr Pachuau Lalmalsawma said.

"If needed, we would also conduct screening of people entering Mizoram from the Myanmar border village of Zokhawthar and other important entry points, like in 2009," he said.

Though the routine screening of people for H1N1 infections commenced from February 23 at the lone Lengpui Airport near Aizawl, no fresh swine flu case was detected till date, he said.

Except for the woman who was found to have been infected after staying for a brief period in Delhi, he said four samples had been sent to the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), Kolkata, earlier, of which only was was found positive.