The > death of 53-year-old P. Sreenivasan of Mannady is the second such incident in the State in two months after that of a 40-year-old woman at a private hospital in Coimbatore. A health department official said the victim had recently visited Secunderabad and only returned to Chennai on December 29. “By the time he was admitted, it was quite late. Precautionary surveillance and control measures have been stepped up throughout the State,’’ he said. The man’s family has already been given prophylactic treatment, GH doctors added.
Seasonal virus
From being a pandemic in 2009, the H1N1 influenza virus has since become a seasonal virus. In August 2010, the World Health Organisation announced that the virus had moved into the post-pandemic period but that localised outbreaks of various magnitudes were likely to continue for some years.
According to State director of public health K. Kolandaisamy, the virus is not as virulent as it was earlier. “There is no need to panic as the virus is now seasonal and can be treated. Over the years, communities have developed resistance to it and most healthy people can fight it off naturally. It is only in people who have pre-existing conditions such as respiratory ailments or diabetes that it can be dangerous,” he said.
The Directorate has not stopped any measures that were taken in 2009 to combat the virus, Dr. Kolandaisamy said. “We have necessary stocks of Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) – about 1.5 lakh capsules. Testing takes place only at government and government-approved labs, from whom we get a daily report. Mr. Sreenivasan’s house will be disinfected and the people he was in close contact with will be administered prophylactics too,” he said, adding that the locality too would be monitored for other cases of fever.
The first five days are crucial in battling the virus, and if Tamiflu is administered then, it is highly effective, Dr. Kolandaisamy said. If drugs are administered very late, they are less effective.
A senior Chennai Corporation official said a standard protocol was being followed as per WHO guidelines.
