Swine flu threat grows in India

24 Jul 2017- Swine flu, the viral illness that became a pandemic in 2009, has made a comeback in India this year, claiming nearly 600 lives across the country so far this year, with close to 12,500 cases being reported.

Maharashtra, with 284 deaths, is the worst affected, followed by Gujarat (75), Kerala (63) and Rajasthan (59), government data showed, according to indiatimes.com.

In Delhi, official figures state, 241 people have tested positive for swine flu and four have died, as on July 9. Doctors said the number of deaths could be higher.

"People are visiting hospitals late. This is why there have been more deaths. If patients are put on Tamiflu, the drug approved for treating swine flu, as soon as clinical symptoms appear, many lives can be saved," Dr. Jagdish Prasad, the director general of health services, told TOI.

Clinicians suspect the H1N1virus, which causes swine flu, may have mutated. The disease initially spread through pigs but now transmits from human to human. A central rapid response team has been deployed in Maharashtra to investigate the rising trend of influenza there, Prasad said.

He added that government has put Oseltamivir, marketed as Tamiflu, in schedule H1 to enable it to be sold by all licensed chemists under prescription. The drug was earlier in schedule X, wherein only certain selected pharmacists were authorized to stock it.

The growing number of swine flu cases so early in the season has had doctors worried.

"This is surprising. Swine flu is commonly seen in winter or post-monsoon season. But we have been seeing significant number of cases of swine flu since June in spite of high temperatures that are not conducive for viral growth or transmission," Dr. Arup Basu, senior chest physician at SGRH, said.

Dr. Suranjit Chatterjee, a senior consultant at Apollo Hospitals, said the National Institute of Virology and National Center for Disease Control should investigate the reasons behind the sudden spurt in swine flu cases."

As clinicians, we need to look out for characteristic symptoms of swine flu throughout the year so that timely action can save lives," he added.

Source: http://www.iran-daily.com/News/197205.html