A day after seven students, who returned here from the US, tested positive for swine flu, five others belonging to the same group were on Tuesday hospitalised after they developed symptoms of the disease.
"We have admitted five more students of the group after symptoms of swine flu were noticed in them. Their blood samples were sent to National Institute of Communicable Deceases (NICD), Delhi for testing," SS Walia, Chief Surgeon at Civil Hospital said.
The 12 were part of a group of 30 students and three teachers who had gone to an education trip to NASA in the US recently.
Regarding preparation to control spread of the influenza, Walia said: "surveillance has been accelerated and medical examination of those who came in contact with the students is on. Tamiflu tablets and surgical masks are being distributed
among the vulnerable persons."
Meanwhile, another group of students of a city school on Tuesday returned from US after an education trip and all of them
were medically examined and no symptoms of swine flu were noticed in them, Walia said.
However, as a precautionary measure, the students and their families were advised to be vigilant about any symptom of the virus in them, if noticed later on.
Meanwhile, a team of doctors from NICD imparted training to doctors in the city on how to control spread of swine flu, Walia said, adding one more isolation ward was set up at the Civil Hospital to accommodate any similar cases.
Medical examination of certain media persons, who came in contact with the virus-affected students, was also conducted and Tamiflu tablets were distributed among them, he said.
Deputy commissioner AS Pannu held an emergency meeting of all district officials of various departments including Revenue, Education and Health and instructed them to launch an awareness campaign in rural areas about symptoms of the disease.
Officials were instructed to strengthen surveillance on those who had recently returned from the affected countries, including Mexico, Canada and the US.
