SEVEN TEST POSITIVE FOR SWINE FLU

Dhaka, June 24th— Six more people, almost all of whom recently returned from the US, tested positive for swine flu on Wednesday, the IEDCR said, pushing to seven the total number of known cases in Bangladesh. "Almost all of them recently returned from the US," IEDCR director Mahmudur Rahman told bdnews24.com. "All of them are doing fine and undergoing treatment at home," he said. Passengers are being screened at Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet airports, Chittagong and Mongla seaports and 11 land ports to check swine flu, Mahmudur Rahman said. He said that they had so far carried tests for the H1N1 virus in 59 bodies and found it in seven people. The health ministry on Friday said that the first swine flu case was detected in Bangladesh the day before. On examining the throat swab and nasal wash samples of a Bangladeshi young man who had returned from the United States, IEDCR and ICDDR,B on Thursday confirmed the first case of the H1N1 virus responsible for the deadly flu. India is examining incoming passengers at the international airports to check the flu pandemic. The Middle Eastern countries, home to the largest numbers of Bangladeshi expatriate workers, have also launched the drive against it. In India, more than 10 patients have been detected with swine flu, one of them in Kolkata. Gulf Times reported a Bangladeshi child in Doha was detected with swine flu some days back. The victim was on its way to Bangladesh from the US. The child is undergoing treatment. Since the WHO declared the swine flu pandemic on June 11, Bangladesh has been free of any infestation until this case. So far the virus is causing mild to moderate disease, but it has killed at least 171 people and been confirmed in nearly 43,312 globally. The virus has killed 109 people in Mexico, where it was first detected in April before spreading to the rest of the world, prompting the Mexican government to temporarily shut schools and businesses in an effort to slow its spread. Countries from Australia to Chile to the United States, where 44 people have been killed, are reporting that the new swine flu virus is "crowding out" seasonal flu, becoming the predominant influenza strain. Patients with specific flu-like symptoms–a fever above 40 degrees C, cough or other respiratory symptoms–are presumed to have the new virus