Hindustan Times : reported that Experts call for immediate study of new swine flu strain

The latest swine flu victim was a 72-year-old Kurla woman, who died on May 12. Primary swine flu symptoms are fever, lethargy, headache, cough, sore throat and nausea. Though such cases are extremely rare in Mumbai, we don't know the exact cause of progression of swine flu," he added. Dr Om Srivastava, infectious diseases expert, said unlike in regular swine flu patients, lungs are last to get affected in many patients from eastern Maharashtra. We need to study the virus to understand why its behaves differently in different parts of the country," she said.

Changing swine flu alarms docs

Moreover, there has been an alarming increase in the number of swine flu cases in Maharashtra this year. The new swine flu vaccine will only be available next year onwards; till then, the health department plans to continue with Tamiflu (Oseltamivir) to treat patients. Patients infected with the H1N1 virus should avoid contact with the public, as this is another reason for the spread of the virus." As the earlier symptoms of H1N1 virus were similar to the common flu, doctors find it hard to identify the virus early on — eventually, the death risk increases. Mukund Diggikar, joint director of malaria, filaria, water-borne and vector- borne diseases at the health department, informed, "Till date, patients have complained about symptoms like cold, cough and fever when it comes to swine flu.

Five more patients test positive for virus: Four confirmed swine flu deaths in capital this year

These would be the first swine flu deaths reported in Delhi this year. Swine flu is a highly contagious respiratory disease in pigs caused by one of several swine influenza A viruses. Doctors, however, said the cause of deaths cannot be solely attributed to the H1N1 or swine flu virus. Parliament was also told that between January 1 and March 26, 6,062 swine flu cases were registered. Sources said these patients had a history of lung and kidney diseases, besides testing positive for swine flu.


collected by :Lucy William
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