2nd case of H1N1 in Nagaland

NORTH EAST STATES SOUND HIGH ALERT
Another case of H1N1 was confirmed, the second in Nagaland, when a 27-year old Naga male was tested positive for the virus at District Hospital Dimapur on Friday.
According to Dr. Sukhato A. Sema Director of Medical Health & Family Welfare, the patient had returned to Dimapur on Friday after spending two weeks in Delhi.
He had complained of some sinus-like symptom at the District Hospital Friday and blood samples were then collected and sent to Dibrugarh for test. The results of the test arrived Friday evening and confirmed positive for H1N1, stated Dr. Sukhato.
It may be recalled, that on February 18, a Naga woman, based at Chennai, had been diagnosed with H1N1 after being admitted to the District Hospital Dimapur.
Both the patients have been admitted to isolation wards in the Dimapur district hospital, the Health & Family Welfare director said.
Video conferencing with CMOs
Commissioner and secretary Health & Family Welfare (H&FW), Sentiyanger would hold a video conferencing with all the district Chief Medical Officers and Medical superintendents of Nagaland for discussing pertinent issues relating to H1N1 Flu and also to review the state of preparedness for tackling the H1N1 flu in the state.
According to a DIPR report, the video conferencing would be held on February 21 at 10 a.m
NE States alert: North Eastern states have sounded a high alert to prevent the spread of swine flu in the bordering region even as three persons tested positive for the virus- two in Nagaland and one Mizoram- officials said Friday. According to reports, the  Assam, Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya governments have also sounded high alerts and directed the district medical authorities to be ready to deal with any eventuality.
In Manipur, director of state health directorate Okram Ibomcha said that surveillance cells have been opened in all the nine districts of the state. In Assam, special swine flu disease prevention facilities have been set up at Guwahati Medical College and Hospital, Assam Medical College in Dibrugarh and Silchar Medical College.
Tripura Health and Family Welfare Minister Badal Choudhury said that a special medical ward has been created in Agartala government medical college to deal with the infectious disease.
In Mizoram, the woman who was tested positive for swine flu was in New Delhi for a short period.
It was suspected that she contracted the H1N1 virus in the national capital, nodal officer of Mizoram Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, Pachuau Lalmalsawma stated.
In Nagaland, the state’s health and family welfare department sounded a high alert in all the 11 district units after the first swine flu case was detected.
Death toll 743, sets alarm bells across India
Number of deaths across India due to swine flu has reached 743 Friday, with 40 more people, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman in Delhi, succumbing to the disease. Across India, the number of cases rose from 11,071 Thursday to 11,955 Friday, a health ministry official said.
So far, Rajasthan has reported 202 deaths, Gujarat 155 and Telangana 49. Twenty-seven people have died in Punjab while 20 have succumbed in neighbouring Haryana, six have died in Delhi, four in Kashmir and three each in West Bengal and Chandigarh.
However, no fresh case was reported in Himachal Pradesh Friday, though 16 positive cases and three deaths have been recorded till date in the state.
Meanwhile, a team of experts from the health ministry was visiting Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to extend technical support to these states while union Health Minister J.P. Nadda reviewed the health situation in Uttar Pradesh.
The ministry has asked states to study the patterns in mortality such as which areas, age groups and section of people have been most affected.
Centre on Thursday held a high-level meeting led by the cabinet secretary to review the situation. During the meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) the cabinet secretary stressed that states should ensure that the outbreak monitoring cells and necessary helplines function round the clock.
The states have assured centre that adequate stocks of medicines were available and people were being made aware about the spread of the disease.