BMC Claims That There Is No Need To Panic About Swine Flu, Since The Virus Won’t Stay For Long
Mumbai : Two more people including a 7-year-old Mumbai boy succumbed to swine flu virus on Wednesday. The other victim was an out-station patient. With this, the city’s death toll has gone up to 37 this year.
The cause of both the deceased’s death has been identified as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Meanwhile, the city reported 22 new swine flu cases on Thursday, of which 20 are Mumbaikars.
The boy from Andheri breathed his last in Holy Spirit Hospital owing to ARDS with Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC) on Wednesday. He was admitted to hospital with flu-like symptoms. “The boy had a history of autoimmune disorders on corticosteroids which aggravated his state. Later, he got diagnosed with bronchopneumonia and septicemia which worsened his condition. He was kept on ventilator for few days but ultimately he succumbed to the disease,” said Dr Mangala Gomare, head of epidemiology cell at BMC.
The second death was of a 48-year-old man from Alibaug in Raigad who was admitted to Saifee Hospital on March 16. He breathed his last on Wednesday owing to ARDS with H1N1 influenza. Of the 20 Mumbaikars who are swine flu patients while the boy died, seven are getting treated on out-patient department (OPD) basis while the rest are admitted to various city-based hospitals and are reported stable by the BMC’s health department.
BMC claims that there is no need to panic about swine flu, since the virus won’t stay for long. “Looking at the previous data of swine flu cases in past three to four years, we can say that the swine flu cases will go down eventually. As of now also, we are not witnessing many swine flu cases,” added Gomare.
