One more patient succumbed to swine flu in State Capital on Tuesday, taking the death toll in the dreaded disease to two this season. The victim, reported to be a 23-year old woman, had been undergoing treatment at the Synergy hospital in the city.
The death appears to have perturbed the district health department so much that instead of taking any action to prevent the disease it is now trying to conceal the information and keep the death under wraps ostensibly in the name of preventing the spread of panic in the public. One of the senior officers of the district health department not wanting to be named, confirmed the death of the young woman.
However, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Dehradun, Dr SP Agarwal could not be contacted despite repeated attempts for comment on the latest swine flu death in the city.
Apart from two deaths the state capital also has 12 confirmed cases of the disease in last two months. The district health authorities have so far collected samples of 41 suspected cases of which 12 tested positive and 26 tested negative while reports of three samples are awaited.
It appears that the health department is not taking the disease seriously this year in spite of the fact that the state government has sounded an alert over the disease in the recent past. Instead of taking measures to control the disease the health authorities are instead harping on about the less virulent nature of swine flu virus this year. They are of the view that the virus this time is a milder one and that there is no major cause of worry. However two deaths from the disease in state capital have put egg on the face of a sloppy district health authority.
Swine flu is a viral diseases, its virus is also called H1 N1 virus 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.