Mumbai: Swine flu deaths across the state have witnessed a 9% increase. According to the statistics provided by the state surveillance department, H1N1 death toll has risen to 239 and as many as 2,300 people have tested positive for H1N1 so far this year.
“There has been a 9% increase in the swine flu fatality rate this year as compared to 216 swine flu deaths recorded during the same period last year,” said a senior health official.
The maximum number of deaths occurred in Pune, which recorded 52 fatalities followed by Nagpur (44), Nashik (39), Mumbai (30) and Kolhapur (22).
The highest number of H1N1 cases were reported in Mumbai with 642 followed by Nagpur (375), Nashik (328), Pune (173) and Thane district (129).
“Some of the H1N1 casualties reported this month had actually occurred last month. But they were reported to the state’s centralised system in October,” a state health official said.
Over the last decade, with 33,284 patients testing positive for the disease, Maharashtra recorded most number of H1N1 cases in the country, with the highest number of fatalities at 3,637.
Experts said the swine flu virus transmission was likely to rise further as persistent rainfall led to drop in temperature, providing a conducive atmosphere for the virus to grow and spread.
“Deaths in swine flu usually occur in high-risk patients with other underlying medical conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, respiratory ailments and those who are immune-compromised,” said a doctor from KEM hospital.
Senior doctors said to cope up with the disease burden and to reduce mortality, timely treatment and diagnosis is the need of the hour.
“If patients keep an eye on the symptoms and approach doctors for quick diagnosis, we will be able to control the cases,” said Dr Om Srivastava, infectious diseases department head at Jaslok Hospital.
Dr Harshad Limaye, consultant, internal medicine and infectious diseases, Nanavati Super Specialty Hospital, Vile Parle, said most effective way to control swine flu mortality is prompt testing and immediate medical care when symptoms arise.
At the same time WHO-approved trivalent quadrivalent intramuscular vaccine is a must for high risk group before the onset of monsoon.
“Severe lower respiratory tract infections with breathing difficulty leading to respiratory failure and superadded bacterial pneumonias in swine flu are two major causes of mortality.
Both are commonly seen in people with underlying chronic cardio respiratory diseases. Rarely, swine flu can affect central nervous system or other organ system of body adding to mortality,” said Dr Limaye, discussing the burden of mortality in swine flu.
