Doctors at the San Fernando General Hospital are probing a suspected case of H1N1 Influenza (swine flu) after a Point Fortin security officer was admitted after exhibiting symptoms of the deadly virus.
The latest incident comes two weeks after Siparia mother Cherrie Ryce died from the illness at the hospital. While doctors have not yet confirmed whether the 42-year-old officer has the virus, he remains warded in a critical condition at the Intensive Care Unit.
Swabs were expected to be taken from the patient yesterday to be sent for analysis at the Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) laboratory in Port-of-Spain. Hospital staff says it usually takes four days for results to return.
In an interview with the T&T Guardian, a relative said he was ill since October 23 but when his flu worsened last Friday, he checked into the Point Fortin Area Hospital with high fever and short breath.
Blood samples were taken to test for dengue fever but those results returned negative. However, he was expected to be tested for leptospirosis. He was placed on a regiment of histamine and warded until Saturday morning when his health deteriorated further.
The relative added: “I was not too worried because I said if it was critical, they would have transferred him to the San Fernando General Hospital.
“Around 6 am Sunday, we got a call from doctors at the Point Fortin Area Hospital saying they wanted to speak to us. When we went, they said his situation worsened overnight and they were transferring him to the San Fernando General Hospital.
“When they arrived, the doctors there were upset that he was not transferred sooner. They said he should not have been at Point Fortin so long with limited care.
“By then he could not breathe on his own and they hooked him up to a breathing machine and he was kept in the resuscitation room from several hours,” the relative said.
Medical director: Too early to call
Medical director at the San Fernando General Hospital Dr Anand Chattergoon said until they received results on the patient, it would be premature to say there was another case of the H1N1 Influenza.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Chattergoon said while the patient was suspected of having the virus, testing for H1N1 was a protocol that all patients exhibiting pneumonia-like symptoms underwent.
“I can't honestly say we have a case unless we have confirmation. We get plenty patients with pneumonia throughout the year and that is nothing new for us.
“If a patient comes to us with pneumonia, we can’t say it is H1N1 until we have confirmation from the laboratory. We can say that we suspect or it is possible but we can't really say yet.
“That is an honest situation but we do have someone here for that. We have other cases because you see anytime we get a bad pneumonia patient, we check.
“For example, we knew that Cherrie had it because we got confirmation from the laboratory. The treatment is the same for everyone and it does not change.
“It's just an index of suspicion because it presents itself like bad chest infection, which is a common thing in the Intensive Care Unit. We don’t like to just shoot our mouths off and say 'yes we have it' and then it turns out that it is not H1N1.
“We would panic staff and the country unnecessarily so we normally wait until we get confirmation,” Chattergoon said.
He said the waiting period for results varied as testing for H1N1 Influenza fell directly under the Ministry of Health.