The H1N1 virus, known as swine flu, is spreading panic across the country with deaths being reported from several States since Monday.
Telangana tops the number of positive cases and deaths so far this year. The number of positive cases at the Gandhi Hospital in >Hyderabad rose to 27 with four fresh cases reported on Tuesday. Besides 35 people, including 10 children, are under observation at the hospital for the suspected the virus.
Over 150 >swine flu positive cases have been reported along with seven deaths in just 20 days between January 1, 2015 and January 20 in Telangana. After a lull of two years, positive cases of swine flu started getting reported in large numbers from the second half of December 2014 and before health officials could realise the gravity of the situation, positive cases started to touching double digits every day.
Tamil Nadu reported its first swine flu death on Tuesday. A >58-year-old man died of the virus at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. According to doctors, the man discharged himself “against medical advice” from a private hospital and came to the RGGGH, but rather late.
>Punjab too witnessed a swine flu death on Tuesday with a 55-year-old woman succumbing to the H1N1 virus at a hospital in Amritsar. Sarabjit Kaur, a resident of Sandhu Colony at Batala road in Amritsar, was admitted to the hospital in a very critical condition on January 17, 2015, H.P. Singh from Escorts Fortis Hospitals said.
Four persons have died due to the disease in Haryana while one succumbed to the deadly virus in Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana in the recent past.
Deaths have also been reported from Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and the National Capital region.
> Virus is not as virulent as earlier | >831 cases reported between Jan '14 and Nov 30 | >Treat swine flu like ordinary flu
Earlier this month, senior officials took stock of preparedness level to deal with H1N1 flu. The Centre has asked State governments to stock up on necessary medicines and make arrangements for treatment of he affected persons in hospitals.
The Health Ministry has also asked States to ensure sanitation and hygiene in all public places and to create awareness about symptoms of swine flu, diagnostic facilities required for testing H1N1 virus and the course of treatment.
Gurgaon reports third swine flu death
The >swine flu virus claimed a life on Monday in Gurgaon . It was the third such death in the city.
A 55-year-old woman from Patna in Bihar died of the disease at a private hospital in Gurgaon.
She was admitted to Medicity Medanta hospital in sector 38.
Earlier, a 42-year-old man from Jind district of Haryana died during treatment at the private hospital. Last week, a 57-year-old resident of sector 54 died in the same hospital.
A senior doctor at the government-run civil hospital said there are more than one dozen patients suspected to be suffering from swine flu being treated at several hospitals.
One more dies of swine flu in Madhya Pradesh
A 44-year-old woman died due to swine flu in Indore on Monday, taking the number of H1N1 deaths in the district to four this month, a senior health official said.
The woman succumbed to swine flu while undergoing treatment at the state government-run Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital, he said.
The deceased, who resided in Ramkrishna Bagh locality of the city, was admitted to a private hospital on January 13, 2015.
After her condition turned critical, she was admitted to the MY Hospital, Integrated Diseases Surveillance Project’s (IDSP) District Unit In-charge G.L. Sodhi told PTI .
He said that another 36-year-old woman, a resident of the Gautampura area died while being treated at a private hospital on after she was admitted in a critical condition on January 14.
He said that as temperatures are constantly low, the H1N1 virus has become active due to which people with low immunity have been falling prey to swine flu.
First swine flu case in Odisha
At a time when jaundice continues to pose challenge in different parts of the State, the Odisha government on January 18 called for alertness after a man tested positive for the H1N1 virus.
The >65-year-old man from Khurda district was admitted to a private hospital here. His blood samples were sent to the city-based Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), an Indian Council for Medical Research institute, which confirmed presence of the H1N1 virus.
Nurse dies of unknown virus in Rajasthan
A male nurse of a private hospital in Jodhpur died of an unknown disease while another, who displayed similar symptoms, was flown to AIIMS in New Delhi by an air ambulance in critical condition.
Both the attendants were serving in the hospital’s ICU till Saturday afternoon and fell ill the same day, triggering suspicion that they contracted some infection in the hospital itself.
The family members of the deceased nurse said that five carers were looking after a patient in the ICU who had died three days ago.
“All of them had developed health complications. The day after two of them fell seriously ill and another left for Ahmedabad for treatment,” said a family member of the deceased nurse.
The hospital’s PRO, Kuldeep Goswami, said the nurse, Dinesh Chouhan, had come to the hospital on Sunday morning.
“We immediately administered a blood test that confirmed that he did not contract dengue, swine flu or any other noticeable virus,” Mr. Goswami said.
“We started the treatment on the basis of the symptoms using high doses of antibiotics, but the patient reached the stage of multiple organ failure followed by sharp drop in platelet count and died on Sunday night,” said Mr. Goswami.
A sample of his serum has been sent to a Pune-based microbiology laboratory for detailed study.
“The other patient, Shravan Kumar, was rushed to AIIMS in New Delhi this evening by an air ambulance on the request of his family. His condition was also critical,” he said.
Meanwhile, a team of health officials has reached the hospital and initiated an inquiry into the matter.
One of the team members, CMHO Yuddhveer Singh, confirmed the two nurses’ condition was serious and said that many viruses can lead to sharp decline in the count of platelets.
“But since this virus has not yet been identified, its diagnosis is imperative. But we will have to wait for the report from the Pune laboratory to reach any conclusion,” he said.
“We are trying get in touch with the patient who went to Ahmedabad for treatment while the rest two are fine. I met them during my visit to the hospital,” he said adding that there was no reason of panic.
(With agency inputs)
