BHOPAL: More than 104 patients had succumbed to Swine flu and more than 430 cases were reported positive in 2015-16 in Madhya Pradesh. But in 2016-17 winters, only one case has been reported and that too in January and the patient had caught the virus during her trip to Delhi. Since then, now no positive case has been reported.
According to officials of health department, the extensive precautions taken by the government and awareness among the masses are the prime reasons behind no cases being reported. There is also a probable scientific explanation as to why such a less number of cases have been reported this year. And that is that mutation has been slow this year. Dr Rashmi Choudhary, Assistant professor, department of Biochemistry said, “There is a chance that mutation has taken place very slowly in the virus. Mutation does take place but the process might be slow or the mutation is still under process. If you see, dengue outbreak is peaks in some years. Similarly, the H1N1 virus is undergoing mutation. Also, when such disease spread in a community, our body automatically starts developing antibodies against the virus. In 2015, there was huge number of cases reported. There is a possibility that our body have developed antibody and this happens irrespective of whether we had the disease or not. The spread of disease in community we live automatically triggers the development of antibodies against foreign bodies.”
The health department has been continuously conducting Swine flu tests in case of any symptoms like swine flu.
Dengue and chikungunya viruses still going strong
The change in temperature was supposed to destroy the dengue and chikungunya virus and mosquitoes but till now cases are being reported. The vector borne disease spreads during the humid season and vanishes in winters. But this year cases of dengue and chikungunya were reported in winters as well. According to CMHO Dr Veena Sinha, it is because of the difference in temperature inside and outside. “The temperature outside is very low, in which the larvae cannot breed but inside the temperature is moderate in which they survive and that is why one or two cases were reported throughout the winters”, she said. She also added that for controlling vector borne diseases, people need to be more aware about it and they should take proper care about water kept in utensils inside houses. “We are still conducting surveys to kill the larvae”, she said.
