Swine flu: NIMHANS to set up lab

The Department of Neuro-Virology at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) will soon establish a facility to test throat and nasal samples of suspected H1N1 flu patients.

The tests which will be conducted at the Bio Safety Level-III Laboratory at NIMHANS is expected to process the samples and provide results in less than six hours, after the samples are sent from hospitals.

Elaborating on the entire procedure of setting up the laboratory, Head of Neuro-Virology Department, NIMHANS Dr V Ravi said, “We are conducting trial runs by testing the samples (throat and nasal samples of suspected H1N1 patients) now. However, it will require sometime for the laboratory to begin work independently.

Parallel test

"Once we arrive at a result, we will undergo parallel testing with National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) to match the results. If the results match with that of NICD, the lab will work independently and will start functioning in another 15 days,” Dr Ravi said. 

The research team comprises Lab Technician Mahesh, Research Scholar Anshu Srivastav and Dr Ravi from NIMHANS, who underwent training to conduct such tests at the NICD, Delhi. The research team is now provided with specialised PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) Kits sent by NICD, Delhi recently. These PCR kits will be used to detect the 'virus genetic material' and as of now, upto 100 samples can be tested at the Bio-Safety Level III Laboratory in NIMHANS. Dr Ravi said they have been coordinating with the Director of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) Dr Shashidhar Buggi. Once the lab starts working independently, results of samples sent in the morning will be announced in the evening. According to experts, the H1N1 virus multiplies at a very high rate. So the faster the patient identifies the symptoms and goes through screening, testing and administers the antiviral drug (Tami Flu), the faster he/she will recover from the flu. At present, there are eight NIV Labs and ten NICD Labs in the country. The Central government has identified 16 locations for setting up labs to ease the process of testing samples from suspected H1N1 flu patients.

Tami flu update

A 29-year-old man who arrived from Singapore on June 28 tested positive for the H1N1 flu virus on Wednesday. He had visited Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) here  voluntarily and has been admitted at the Institute to undergo quarantine period.
Seventeen suspected patients visited RGICD including six passengers from BIA during the day.

Among the passengers, a 32-year old man and his four-year old daughter, who arrived from San Francisco, have been admitted at RGICD.

Two other passengers, one 27-year-old and another 15-years old, who arrived from Dubai have been admitted at Lakeside Medical Centre and Hospital.

A total of 21 samples of throat swabs have been sent to National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. 

Previous samples have all tested negative.