Even as Telangana State is trying to grapple with the rampant swine flu, the virus is showing symptoms of becoming more virulent in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh as a Member of Parliament was among 33 more patients tested positive for H1N1 virus.
Kothapalli Geetha, MP from tribal dominated Araku, was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Visakhapatnam. The MP was admitted to hospital with the complaints of chest pain and headache. "Her swab was sent for test. She was infected with swine flu virus. But her condition was under control and she may be discharged from the hospital in a couple of days", a doctor said. She is the second MP to be infected with the swine flu. Earlier, K Kavita, member of lok Sabha from Nizamabad in Telangana, was infected but recovered after medical treatment.
Dr Murli, State coordinator for the swine flu cases, said that so far five people tested positive in Visakhapatnam, one of them from Vijayanagaram. With the increasing cases of the flu, health department has decided to launch a week-long awareness program in the city from Monday. Apart from residential areas, schools will also be covered during the campaign, Dr Murli said.
Meanwhile, two more swine flu patients died at Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad taking the toll to 40 over the last one month. One of the victims was from Keesara on the outskirts of Hyderabad and another from Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. Nearly 70 cases are undergoing treatment at Gandhi Hospital. Total number of swine flu cases in Telangana so far has touched 700.
A junior doctor also tested positive in Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Warangal on Monday. Going with the pattern of deaths, in which even young victims succumbed despite the best treatment, doctors have expressed fear that H1N1 virus might have mutated H1N2 or H2N3, comparatively stronger and deadly.
Consequently, National Institute of Virology has swung in to action and was collecting samples for new test to find the real form of the virus. So far the samples were being tested only for H1N1.
Telangana health officials said that the results of the new tests will be available in ten days. "Only then we will be able to find out the reason for the severity of the endemic", a senior officials said. Only Pune-based institute had the wherewithal to test the samples for other viruses while the Institute of Preventive Medicine, like similar institutions elsewhere in the country can test only for H1N1, officials added.