Death of a woman in Roorkee town of Haridwar district from Swine flu and five positive cases in Dehradun district has jolted the State health services into action mode. With more than 200 deaths, the H1N1 virus is threatening to assume epidemic proportion in the country. On Friday, a woman in Roorkee town died of the disease. Incidentally, she was discharged from the private hospital she was admitted, the district health department got active when her sample was found positive for swine flu.
However, by the time health department team visited her house she had died. The department has now taken blood samples of her family members and neighbours and sent them for Swine flu test. The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Haridwar, Dr Sushma Gupta, told The Pioneer that two suspected patients of Swine Flu are undergoing treatment in the district. The blood samples of these patients are sent to National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) New Delhi for confirmation. Dr Gupta informed that isolation wards in District hospital Haridwar and Rishikesh are kept ready for any exigency. She claimed that the district has adequate stock of Tami Flu (the drug required to treat Swine Flu).
In Dehradun the blood samples of five patients have been found positive for the highly contagious and dreaded disease. The CMO of Dehradun, Dr S P Agarwal said that the two patients have recovered and are discharged while others are getting treatment. He claimed that an alert is sounded for the disease and the district has adequate supplies of medicines and equipment needed to combat the disease. Dr Agarwal said that all the hospitals are advised to keep a strict vigil on the suspected cases of swine flu. He said that the physicians should immediately intimate CMO office about suspected cases.
The virus of swine flu spreads from a virus called H1 N1, its genetic analysis has shown that it has originated from the animals specially pigs hence it is called Swine flu. The virus spreads from person to person similar to that of seasonal influenza.