Nurse tested negative for H1N1 dies 

Shillong, Aug 27 : A nurse, who was tested negative for the H1N1 influenza, died at her residence in Meghalaya, a health official said today. 

Mary Lyngdoh, a nurse of the Shillong Civil hospital, passed away after battling enteric fever, Director of Health Services Dr K H Lakiang told media. 

''She has been diagnosed of enteric fever and not of swine flu,'' Dr Lakiang said. 

Last month, Ms Lyngdoh had complained of swine-flu symptoms after she came into contact with one of the patient, tested positive for the H1N1 virus. 

However, her throat and nasal swab samples sent to the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, tested negative for the deadly virus. 

Ms Lyngdoh was one among the three nurses and two doctors, whose swab samples were collected and sent for medical examination. 

Although the sample was tested negative for the deadly diseases, the nurse was treated with swine flu medication due to a faux pas committed by a private-run postal courier for dispatching her test-results to Kohima in Nagaland. 

''The wrongly dispatched of the test results has created unnecessary delay and the patient was treated for swine flu,'' hospital authorities said. 

After witnessing the fate of their colleague, some nurses have gone into a panic mode and asked for better precautionary measures from the Hospital authorities. 

Meghalaya so far has sent swamp samples of 32 suspected cases. Six so far has tested positive; result of three samples is being awaited, while the others turned negative.