Did Pune girl Rida catch H1N1 virus at a clinic?

New Delhi: How did Rida Shaikh, the 14-year-old in Pune, who became India's first swine flu casualty get the virus? There are many unanswered questions but sources in the health ministry say that the central team that visited Pune found that she may have contracted the virus at a clinic on the July 23 or 24.

She went to a general physician with a usual cough and cold complaint. Before this, she had consulted her family doctor.

Just before examining Rida, the physician had attended to a patient who later tested positive for swine flu.

What has baffled experts is how Rida could have got the virus. She had no history of travel to any flu-affected country.

Schools with swine flu cases are 20 km away from Rida's house and school. Nobody in her school has swine flu.

Shaken up by the Pune school girl's death on Monday, both the Union Health Ministry and Maharastra government have issued fresh guidelines to prevent further spread of the disease.

The health ministry said people showing mild symptoms of swine flu like cough, cold, fever and headache would no longer be quarantined in designated hospitals. They have to be home quarantined instead.

The governement will also give a list of dos and don'ts to families if a member is suspected to have swine flu till their test results are known.