Andhra Pradesh health authorities have maintained that most of the people who tested positive for swine flu in the State did not have travel history. Additional Director, Health and Family Welfare Geeta Prasadini, additional director for disease control programme, said that except for a couple of cases, the rest of the 33 patients who developed swine flu symptoms did not have any travel history.
Lack of personal hygiene and visiting places of mass gatherings could probably be the reasons for such cases, she added. Till Saturday, four people have died of swine flu in the State—three from Prakasm district and one from Kurnool, who succumbed to the disease at the Gandhi Hospital here.
She said that two women from Chittoor, who had recently visited Bhadrachalam on a pilgrimage, tested positive, while in many other cases the patients belonged to vulnerable age groups and were having co-morbidities like kidney ailment and bronchial asthma.
Dr.Geeta said that most of the cases were from Prakasam, West Godavari and Visakahpatnam districts. While six patients tested positive in Prakasam, five cases were reported from West Godavari. Three patients had swine flu in Anantapur and two of them were discharged, while one woman undergoing treatment was put on ventilator.
She said that a massive awareness campaign has been launched in all the 13 districts in the State. Dr. Geeta said she suspected that the virus might have mutated in view of the severity.
An advanced virology laboratory to test samples for swine flu and other diseases would be coming up at Visakhaptnam in four to five months, she added.
