Bahrain health chiefs step up swine flu fight

FLU ALERT: Bahrain health chiefs are looking for airline passengers sat near the Gulf state's first confirmed victim of swine flu. (Getty Images)

Health authorities in Bahrain are looking for up to 10 airline passengers who may have been infected by the country's first swine flu victim.

Health chiefs are liaising with airline officials in a bid to track down those passengers sat next to the 21-year-old Bahraini student who became infected after flying home from New York on Friday night.

Around 80 students from the same private university in Bahrain as the victim are also being tested after they attended a graduation ceremony in the US, Gulf Daily News reported on Wednesday.

"We could be looking at eight to 10 passengers who could have been seated around the patient. The airline has to help us identify them, so they can be tested," Health Ministry public relations director Adel Abdulla told the paper.

The victim is in isolation at Salmaniya Medical Complex, where his condition was said to be improving on Tuesday.

Two roommates who flew home with him, his immediate family and staff at the private hospital where he first went for treatment have all tested negative, the paper reported.

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