Major outbreak of H1N1 infection at tribal school

Thiruvananthapuram: Widespread transmission of Influenza A(H1N1) virus in the community has resulted in a major local outbreak of the infection in a residential tribal school at Njaraneeli in Peringammala panchayat, where five out of a cluster of 51 cases of fever with cold were confirmed as H1N1 infection on Thursday.

�Five children tested for H1N1 on a random basis were positive and that all the 51 children could be having the infection. Oseltamivir medicine has been started for the children. All the students and staff at the Ambedkar Vidyaniketan School have been put under surveillance, a senior health official told The Hindu.

The district heath administration has issued a high alert directive to doctors in the periphery.

It was on Wednesday that the medical officer at the Peringammala primary health centre reported to the district headquarters that a large number of children in the school were having fever with additional symptoms of cold.