After a lull, H1N1 is once again emerging as a significant threat this season, already claiming 12 lives in the State, including an ante-natal case, this year.
The fact that the number of deaths have gone up is a clear indication of the diminishing awareness and alertness about the infection among the public and the medical fraternity, Health officials say.
“Once a virus establishes itself in a community, it will continue to surface at specific intervals. Since 2012, we have had very few cases of H1N1, which seems to have lulled routine surveillance and sampling for the infection. Also, the health system could have become complacent, thinking that H1N1 was no more a dangerous disease,” says Amar Fettle, State nodal officer for H1N1 surveillance and management
“H1N1 can be managed well if detected and treated at the right time. But unless surveillance is strong, cases are likely to be missed, as has been happening. The number of deaths went up this season because of the failure of physicians in identifying or considering the possibility of H1N1 early. In almost all cases, the patients had gone to more than two hospitals or doctors, by which time the infection had aggravated,” he says.
So far, some 800-odd samples have been tested this season for H1N1, with 48 testing positive for the infection.
The State had the maximum number of cases and casualties in 2009 and 2010 when the infection first surfaced here.
In 2009, there were 1,578 cases of H1N1 and 31 deaths; while in 2010, the number of cases was 1,534, with 90 deaths, a chunk of them being ante-natal women. By next year, the number of cases dropped to 210 and only 10 deaths were reported. In 2012 and 2013, only sentinel surveillance was being carried out and the number of cases was in single digit.
The Heath department had evolved guidelines and treatment protocols for H1N1, with specific norms on how pregnant women should be treated with the drug Oseltamivir as soon as they present with any flu symptoms, in 2010 itself.
However, with H1N1 no longer perceived to be a major threat, the sense of urgency seems to have been lost and routine sampling for surveillance has been sparse.
More awareness needs to be generated among doctors so that they are more alert about the possibility of H1N1 when patients turn up with flu symptoms.
The public also should be alert to the possibility of H1N1 and take precautions by following the flu etiquette and isolating themselves at home if at all they experience any symptoms.
