Swine flu has claimed its first victim of season as one patient suffering from the disease has succumbed to the disease. Though the death of the 54 year patient occurred on March 26 at the Himalayan hospital Jollygrant, the death was reported to the district authorities on Monday evening. A red faced heath department is now threatening to take action against the hospital for not sharing the information of death of the patient.
This patient, a resident of the Rajawala area of the city was admitted in the hospital on March 11 with symptoms of the disease. His sample was sent to the National Centre Disease Control (NC DC) for testing and his report was found positive on March 21.
The district in- charge of integrated disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), Dr Puneet Chandra accepted that the Hospital reported the death very late and notice would be served to the hospital for it. He said that the patient was retired armed forces personnel. A team of health department had visited the residence of the patient and nearby houses but it didn’t found any suspected patient of the disease.
The CMO of Dehradun Dr Y S Thapliyal claimed that the department is on high alert and all geared up to combat the disease. He informed that all hospitals have adequate stock of Tami flu, N- 95 Masks, triple layered masks and BTM vials.
Swine flu is a viral diseases, its virus is also called H1 N1 and 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.