The second suspected case of swine flu in Gujarat came to light on Thursday.

A 30-year-old woman, who had returned from the US some two days back, has been quarantined at the VS hospital after she had fallen ill with swine flu symptoms.

She consulted a local physician who referred her to the VS hospital.

Confirming the development, Principal Secretary (Health) Ravi Saxena stated, “The woman has been displaying certain symptoms after she flew back from New Jersey and had consulted a local doctor. After we were reported about the case, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and epidemiologists from the Health Department visited her house. She was taken to the isolation ward to collect swab samples as per the set protocol and we also requested the family members to remain confined to their house.”

The throat swab of the woman has been forwarded to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in New Delhi for thorough examination.

Dr. U B Shah, the Deputy Superintendent of V S Hospital said: “The woman had recently visited New Jersey and is a suspected case. Though all symptoms do not point towards swine flu, but we have sent her swab samples to Delhi for laboratory testing. The test results are awaited from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) and are expected to arrive by Friday evening.”

The hospital authorities said that the woman has been kept in the isolation ward till the confirmation report of the samples come.

In the meantime, test result of the blood and swab samples of the 11-year-old girl, who was suspected to have contracted swine flu just before returning to India, on Sunday, from the US, has turned out to be negative.

“The case from Himmatnagar has been detected negative for the virus. It turned out to be a case of simple respiratory tract infection. So now, there is a single suspected case from Ahmedabad,” Mr. Ravi Saxena added.

Health and family welfare minister Jaynarayan Vyas stated that there was no confirmed swine flu case in Gujarat up till now even though all possible measures are taken to identify and test suspected cases.