Kashmir reports first swine flu death

SRINAGAR - A 21-year-old woman succumbed to swine flu here, becoming the first victim of the H1N1 virus in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said Sunday.

Muskan from Tullamulla, near here, was admitted to the Soura medical institute Dec 1 after she developed acute respiratory distress.

Doctors at the institute admitted her to the intensive care unit (ICU) and her samples were sent to Delhi for examination.

The woman, however, died Saturday and a senior doctor of the institute confirmed that she had tested positive for swine flu.

“We got the report and it is positive. The girl had reported at the institute with acute chest infection, distress and cold,” the doctor said.

Questions are now being raised as to how the patient was admitted in the ICU of the institute instead of the stipulated government designated hospital in the city’s uptown area where isolation wards are available for swine flu patients.

Experts here say the ICU, where critical patients are admitted for round-the-clock observation, should be fumigated following her death.