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First swine flu case detected

Identity of 19-yr-old student who travelled to USA kept secret; govt asks people not to panic

Staff Correspondent
The first case of swine flu infection in the country was detected on June 18.
A 19-year-old male, who recently travelled to the USA, was found infected with the H1N1 virus responsible for swine flu, a pandemic of which has so far killed 171 persons and infected 43,312 in 74 countries in the last two months.
Talking to The Daily Star on the matter, Health and Family Welfare Minister AFM Ruhal Haque said, "Do not panic—only one case has been detected so far and the case was imported."
The young patient is a student of an English medium school in the city's Gulshan area. He went to the US on an academic tour and came back three days ago after staying two weeks in areas that already had records of at least 44 deaths from swine flu and 17,855 confirmed cases of infection.
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The Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) and International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (1CDDR.B) jointly examined the samples of throat swab and nasal wash of the youth and confirmed the presence of H1N1 virus.
The Directorate General of Health Services yesterday issued a statement on the first case of swine flu infection in the country. Bangladesh has been free of any infestation until this case since the World Health Organisation declared the swine flu pandemic on June 11, said the press release.
Prof Mahmudur Rahman, director of IEDCR. told The Daily Star that the patient is now being given treatment at his house "under the government's monitoring".
Family members of the patient have also been kept under observation, he said. He declined to give details about the youth.
Earlier, the body of Mamun Hossain, a Bangladeshi national who was one of the first 19 victims of the deadly flu in Mexico, was buried in his village home in Tangail on May 2 after 14 days of his death.
The IEDCR and ICDDR.B have so far examined eight persons suspected of carrying swine flu virus. All of these persons travelled to countries
where swine flu has spread rapidly and killed people, said Dr ASM Alamgir, focal point of National Influenza Centre and coordinator of Surveillance and Response to Pandemic Influenza in Bangladesh.
Patients with specific flu-like symptoms--fever above 104 degrees Fahrenheit, cough or other respiratory symp-toms--are presumed to have the new virus.
On measures to combat the flu pandemic, the health minister said. The government has adopted three levels of steps to combat swine flu-case detection, outbreak control and service delivery."
Sources at the health ministry said since April 29 vigilance teams have been working at all international airpons, land ports, seaports and nine other entry points of the country to prevent entry of the swine flu virus.
More than 15,000 people have so far been screened at 15 ports including Zia International Airport in a month Adequate stocks of antiviral have also been ensured while 23 isolation centres have been kept ready to treat patients
The government also said it has enough stock of Oseltamivir to treat swine flu patients, if required, and the WHO will provide an additional unit of the antiviral drug to tackle emergencies.