6-year-old boy dies of swine flu; toll mounts to 19 in WB

Kolkata, Mar 14: A six-year-old boy from Siliguri city in Darjeeling district succumbed to swine flu today, taking the toll in West Bengal to 19 since January.

"A six-year-old boy from Siliguri died because of swine flu at a private facility in Siliguri today. He was suffering from the disease for quite sometime and his condition deteriorated in the last couple of days. He was on mechanical ventilation but nothing helped his case," West Bengal Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), Moloy Dey said.

In the last 24 hours, 15 new cases of swine flu infection were reported from across the state taking the total number of people infected by the H1N1 virus to 304 since January, he said.

During the same period nine patients were discharged from different hospitals in the state after their complete recovery from the disease, Dey said. "Of the affected people, 203 have been treated and released," he added.

PTI