Exit, first flu victim

The number of inmates in the isolation ward of the Infectious Diseases Hospital, where swine flu suspects and patients are quarantined, has dropped from seven to two since Sunday.

Seven-year-old Shruti Ghosh, the city’s first swine flu victim, was released from the Beleghata hospital on Monday.

Sourav Lahiri, who got himself admitted on Saturday with fever, tested negative for swine flu and was also released during the day.

“Shruti’s course of Tamiflu is over and she is not having fever anymore. Her parents have been asked to keep her quarantined at home for a few more days,” said Tapas Sen, the nodal officer for tackling swine flu in the state.

Shruti’s mother Sonali, who was staying with the girl in the 20-bed ward that has been divided by a curtain to separate male and female patients, had tested negative for swine flu.

The Oman residents had arrived in Calcutta last Tuesday after holidaying in Australia. Shruti was suffering from cough and fever when she landed at the city airport and was taken straight to the hospital.

The Delhi-based National Institute of Communicable Diseases, where nasal and throat swabs were sent for test, informed the hospital on June 25 that the girl was suffering from swine flu.

The only ones left in the Beleghata isolation ward are four-year-old Suchismita Das, who had tested positive for swine flu on Saturday, and her mother.

“Suchismita’s condition is stable. Her fever has subsided but she is still on medication,” said a source in the hospital.

Suchismita and her parents arrived in Calcutta from Bangkok, where they had gone on a holiday, early on Friday.

Prem Chand Yadav and Suchismita’s father Partha were released on Sunday after their swab tests proved negative.

Lahiri, 26, was the only patient who had voluntarily walked into the hospital and wanted to be tested for swine flu. He had been suffering from fever since returning from Bangkok a week ago.