Doctors fear virus cause of girl's death

LAHORE-A minor girl of Allama Iqbal Town, who died on the way to hospital late Sunday night, is suspected to have been suffering from swine flu. In case doctors opinion holds ground during further investigation then it could be the first case of swine flu in the country, which is a worldwide challenge these days. A young girl, Fatima, (12), was rushed to Shaikh Zayed Hospital with high temperature and flu from which she had been suffering for the last four days. Staff nurses immediately called on-duty doctor and informed him about the serious condition of the minor girl. Fatimas uncle told the doctor that she had been running temperature for the last four days. Dr Husnain while confirming the death of minor girl to her relatives expressed his opinion on the symptoms of the swine virus that might be the main cause of her death. Taking to this scribe Dr Husnain claimed the symptoms of the disease of the girl were leading him to conclude that she had swine fever. He further claimed that according to the information provided by her uncle, she might have caught swine virus by either a passenger who arrived in Pakistan from swine flu-hit country or from other sources. He said the swine flu spreads in the same way as ordinary cold and flu. The virus spreads through the droplets that come out of the nose or mouth when someone coughs or sneezes. The symptoms of the girls disease were almost similar to the swine flu, he claimed. He said it was responsibility of the Punjab govt especially the Health Department authorities to visit the residence of the victim girl and investigate the matter for the public good. The doctor said the Health Department should also survey the area if there was inflow of people from abroad. To a question, he said her uncle had informed him that some people from abroad had come in the locality where they were residing. When this scribe informed Director General (DG) Health Punjab Chaudhry Aslam about the suspicion of Shaikh Zayed Hospitals doctor regarding the death of a girl due to the swine virus, he termed the doctors claim a pre-mature judgment. 'In order to establish whether or not the girl had swine flu depends upon the complete medical investigation mostly done by a lab in Islamabad, he added. He further said all the teaching and other hospitals of the province had already been made alert to cope with any situation in this regard.