Bhubaneswar, Nov 7 (PTI) With swine flu affecting school children in Orissa's Sundargarh district, the state government today asked the Union Health Ministry to supply liquid tamiflu for treatment of patients.

Of the 16 patients so far tested positive for H1N1 virus, eight were girl children, Health Minister Prasanna Acharya said after a meeting on swine flu chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

The disease is spreading in tribal-dominated Sundergarh.

While a woman died of swine flu in the state, several school children staying in hostels were suffering from cold and fever, Acharya said.

While five girls of a Kanyashram at Jhanipalli under Rajgangpur block area tested positive for H1N1, two girls from nearby Tudalaga school were affected by the virus.

What has come as a major headache for the health administration was that 170 inmates of a Navadoya Vidyalaya at Sargipali also developed symptoms of the disease.