Pune, India: June 29, 2009 - IR Summary/TOI - Both H1N1 influenza patients in the city tested (turned) negative after they were quarantined and treated with Tamiflu tablets. Of them, the first patient, a 24-year-old IT professional who had tested positive on June 22 was discharged from hospital, while the second patient will be kept under observation for two more days, said D V Barathe, medical officer of Naidu Hospital on Sunday.

"The throat swab tests of both patients tested negative after they were put on Tamiflu tablets for three days at a stretch," said Barathe."

The IT professional from Pune who flew in after a short stay in the US and UK had tested positive for influenza A (H1N1) influenza on June 22 and became the first case of H1N1 flu in the city. The man had arrived in Mumbai on June 15 and later travelled to Lucknow and Delhi and had returned to Pune on June 18. He developed typical symptoms of H1N1 flu during his stay in Delhi. After returning to Pune, he volunteered to get himself examined at Naidu Hospital, a designated H1N1 flu treatment centre in Pune, following which he was quarantined on June 20.

The other patient, a 29-year-old man had tested positive for influenza A (H1N1) flu on June 25. He had landed in Mumbai from the US via Hongkong at 3.30 am on June 24. He came to Pune the same day and developed H1N1 flu symptoms.

"We have been taking their throat swab tests on a regular basis. Both of them, who had earlier tested positive for H1N1 flu, have turned negative after a few days of treatment," Mandeep Chadha, deputy director of National Institute of Virology (NIV) told TOI.