Nine more swine flu cases in Pune

Nine more persons, including three girl students of St Anne's school, which recorded the first fatality of swine flu in Pune, have tested positive for the virus, health officials said on Thursday.

The three schoolmates of the deceased Reeda Shaikh, the class 9 student of St Anne's who died of the infection on August 3, belong to different classes, leading to concerns about the virus having spread in the school.

Two more schools -- St Helena and Loyola -- have reported one case of swine flu each, according to Dr Ravindra Katti, state Health Department official. The number of total positive H1N1 infections registered in the city now stands at 118.

This represents the largest chunk of the 172 swine flu infections in the state, which has promulgated the Epidemic Diseases Act in Pune and Satara.

Rattled by the death of the 14-year-old student due to swine flu, people continued to rush to government hospitals to get tested for the virus.