By AZARD ALI Friday, June 12 2009

TWO persons from south Trinidad have been tested for swine flu after they were screened at portable isolation tents outside San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) and Couva District Health Facilty (CDHF).

However, more tests are to be conducted on the two men — one from Couva and the other from Chaguanas — to determine whether they have the virus.

The men, Newsday learned, returned to Trinidad from the United States this week. It was about midday yesterday when a 34-year-old man from Chaguanas visited San Fernando General Hospital complaining of a sore throat and nasal congestion. He had arrived in the country days before and told doctors he had travelled from Miami to New York, then to Puerto Rico. He was immediately confined to the isolation tent outside the hospital.

Preliminary tests in the hospital’s laboratory showed he had the symptoms of Influenza A H1N1, or swine flu. Throat swabs were taken of the patient and were sent to the Trinidad Public Health Laboratory, Port-of-Spain, for further testing. The man was administered treatment and discharged by a doctor with strict instructions to confine himself to a bedroom at his home.

The other case involved a 37-year-old man from Couva who visited the CDHF on Wednesday with similar symptoms. Having also returned from New York, he underwent a preliminary examination at the isolation tent, or portable isolation containment system.

A doctor examined the patient and swabs sent to the SFGH’s laboratory indicated he contracted a mild form of Influenza A. Additional swabs were taken and sent to the laboratory in Port-of-Spain, the results for which were still pending yesterday. He was sent home with doctor’s advice to remain confined.

An official at CDHF said because the man was related to an employee there, doctors ordered that all 14 members of staff be screened for the virus on Wednesday. The exercise was conducted and the staff were given a clean bill of health.

SFGH medical director Dr Stephen Ramroop said preliminary screening would be done as a routine, but only a final testing determines whether a person has contracted swine flu. Ramroop said the reports of any positive findings from the Public Health Laboratory and Caribbean Epidemiology Centre must be submitted to the International Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta for confirmation. (See Page 8)