H1N1 takes 3 more lives

MULTAN: Three more suspects died of H1N1 influenza virus at Nishtar Hospital on Tuesday, raising the death toll to 31. Six new suspects were admitted to Multan and other south Punjab hospitals, making the total number of admitted suspects to 232, including 114 virus positive, said the health officials said. A woman and two men were among the dead suspects. Zahra Bibi, 44, of Muzaffargarh, Ehsan, 30, of Rajanpur district and Shafi, 65, of Multan succumbed to virus at the isolation ward of Nishtar Hospital. Dr Attaur Rehman said currently eight suspects were admitted, out of them two were the positive carriers of H1N1 virus, one negative and five were awaiting laboratory results. Health officials expressed concerns over the spread of deadly virus as the change of weather was one of the major causes of its spread. The flu virus is more infectious in winter than summer. Influenza viruses usually spread from person to person through coughs and sneezes.