Goa records its first swine flu death

PANAJI - Goa recorded its first swine flu death Sunday after a 28-year-old woman succumbed to the deadly H1N1 virus, officials said.

The victim, a resident of Khola in Canacona in South Goa and undergoing treatment at a private clinic in Margao, about 30 km from here, was even given a double dose of Tamiflu after swine flu was confirmed on Aug 25 but to no avail, the state’s nodal officer for swine flu Jose de Sa told IANS.

“We tried to do everything possible once her throat swab sample report confirmed swine flu last week. We tried a double dose of Tamiflu too, but she did not respond to treatment,” de Sa said, adding that the woman’s was the first swine flu death in Goa.

The state saw two more swine flu related deaths over the last two months, but both were from the neighbouring state of Karnataka.

The state directorate of health services (DHS) had described the deaths as a case of “imported” swine flu deaths, and the director, Rajnanda Desai, had written to the central health ministry asking them not to account the deaths to Goa, because the “transmission of the virus had occurred outside the state”.