More swine flu cases reported so far in 2017 than entire last year
have been more swine flu cases and deaths in first four months of 2017 in India than all of 2016.
The number of cases is fivefold higher in just over four months compared to last year’s cumulative data. There have been 8,648 confirmed cases and 345 deaths till May 7 compared to 1,786 cases and 265 deaths between January and December 2016, according to Union health ministry data.
The numbers are likely to be higher because only those with serious disease get tested for influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus, which is popularly referred to as swine flu, because the virus shares genes with an influenza virus that infects pigs.
Tamil Nadu accounts for close to one-third of the total swine flu cases and Maharashtra accounted for more than half the nationwide deaths. Gujarat is the worst hit state with one in four persons diagnosed with H1N1 dying in the state.
But the death rate this year is the lowest ever. Less than 4%
(till May 7) 2016
2015
2014 people diagnosed with the disease died this year, compared to 14.8% in 2016.
The dominant strain flu strain in India this year is the A/ Michigan/7/2009 (H1N1) pdm09 virus, which replaced last year’s A/California/7/2009 (H1N1) pdm09 virus as the predominant virus around the world.
“The A/Michigan/7/2009 (H1N1) pdm09 virus has been isolated in the Indian population for the first time, so we still don’t know how it will play out in India,” Dr Soumya Swaminathan, director general of India’s apex research institute, Indian Council of Medical Research told HT.
India’s worst outbreak was in the pandemic years of 2009-10, when H1N1 sickened close to 50,000 people and killed more than 2,700.
“Fewer people are dying of the disease this year because of improved diagnosis and disease management. A lot of training has gone in, though more studies are needed to explain why deaths are higher in western India,” said Dr Swaminathan.
Swine flu causes symptoms of fever, lethargy, headache, cough, sore throat and nausea. Most people recover within a week, but people with low immunity and poorly-managed chronic diseases such as asthma, lung diseases, diabetes, cancer, kidney or heart problems risk srious complications and even death from multi-organ failure.
On direction of the Madras high court, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken up the task of tracing a child who went missing more than a year ago while playing outside his home in Tamil Nadu’s Cheyyar town.
The child’s family had claimed that no effective steps were taken by local police to find him. CBI has been given less than 50 days to file a status report.
The missing child, Aswak Ahamed, was two-years-andnine-months-old at the time of his alleged disappearance on February 27,2016. S Parveen Bee, mother of the child, had lodged a missing persons complaint at the local police station.
The family lives in a rented apartment on Kannugapuram street and the mother, who is the main complainant in the case, is a professor by profession.
In her complaint she told police that Aswak was playing outside their apartment when he went missing at around 9.30 in the morning of February 27. Local police had taken up the matter but were unsuccessful in tracing the child.
In response to the petition filed by child’s mother seeking CBI intervention, the public prosecutor had told the court that the state police had taken all steps to find the child. The public prosecutor further said police had traced out several phone numbers but the whereabouts of the child were unknown.
During the course of investigation superintendent of police (SP) had made a court appearance and assured the bench that the child will be traced.The additional deputy SP was tasked with finding Aswak but was unable to do so and on multiple occasions sought adjournment of court proceedings. A number of status reports have been already filed in the case, according to court documents obtained by HT.
“In these circumstance obviously they (state police) are not hopeful of tracing out the child...We are of the view that to expedite the process to trace out the child, it would be in the interest of justice to transfer the case to the CBI,” the HC had said.