TAXILA: A woman with symptoms of swine flu landed in a city hospital in critical condition sending alarms bell ringing for the local health authorities.

As the hospital was not well equipped to deal with the disease, the patient, a resident of Gulistan Colony Taxila, was shifted to Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi.

The presence of swine flu patient in the city shows that the virus does exist here and the region may face a possible spike in the disease ahead of Eidul Azha.

Focal person for Infectious Diseases at Rawalpindi Medical College and allied hospitals Dr. Javed Hayat while talking to Dawn confirmed that the patient had been brought to Holy Family Hospital on Thursday and was undergoing treatment in an isolation ward of the hospital.

He said symptoms and clinical observations showed that the patient was suffering from swine flu clinically known as Swine Flu H1N1.

Her blood samples had been sent to National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad for serology.

The health official said that swine flu was caused by a virus and the most common subtype, or strain, is influenza type A H1N1.

Published in Dawn, October 4th , 2014