The Guyanese businessman who was diagnosed with swine flu after a trip to China has died in a hospital in the United States, according to media reports.
The father of five, identified as Vishnunarine Sugrim died at the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami since Old Year’s Day, his family told the Guyana Chronicle.
Health authorities recently reported that a 50-year-old man had developed symptoms of the H1N1 virus within two weeks of flying back from China and was hospitalized locally before being taken for treatment overseas. The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) had confirmed the patient was infected with the H1N1 virus.
No timelines were given at the time.
Sugrim’s widow, Geeta, told the Guyana Chronicle that her husband had returned to Guyana ill from his China trip on December.
She said there was no confirmation that swine flu had caused his death.
“When we got (to Miami), there was a mass on his lungs which was caused by pneumonia plus another influenza which they assumed was H1N1,” she told the newspaper, adding that her husband also had diabetes and hypertension.
The symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of the seasonal flu and include: cough, fever, sore throat, stuffy or runny nose, body aches, headaches, chills and fatigue.(Caribbean 360)
