Swine flu back in city, 5 deaths in single day

The swine flu threat is back in the capital. On a day when the World Health Organization declared the H1N1 pandemic over, Delhi reported five deaths due to the viral influenza on Tuesday — taking the total number of fatalities caused by the disease this season to 13.

The city has so far recorded 208 confirmed cases this season.
The high death rate from the disease has led to speculation that the H1N1 strain could have mutated to a more virulent form in the second phase. This, however, hasn't been confirmed through laboratory tests.
Debashish Bhattacharya, nodal officer for swine flu in the capital, said three deaths were reported from Ram Manohar Lohia hospital while one patient died at Gangaram hospital and another at Escorts. Four of the victims were aged between 30 and 50 years. Due to the rains, experts said, the virus is likely to spread.

Two of the five patients suffering from swine flu who died on Tuesday were from Haryana and had been referred by private hospitals, said Dr T S Sidhu, MS of RML hospital. ‘‘They were on ventilator. The third patient, a woman who lived in Karol Bagh, had been in the hospital for four days.’’ One of the patients had borderline diabetes, he added.

Since July, the number of swine flu cases has increased sharply and fatalities are high.

‘‘Swine flu cases are expected to increase during the rains. But the increase in number of deaths needs to be investigated. At present, we can only presume that the virus may have mutated or that the patients who succumbed to the flu had underlying diseases which caused death. Delayed diagnosis is also a major reason behind deaths due to swine flu,’’ said Dr Bir Singh, head of community medicine at AIIMS.

Dr Shobha Broor, professor of microbiology at AIIMS, said that the condition is not alarming. ‘‘Till date, we have not observed any change in the strain or increase in virulence of H1N1 strain. Simple influenza also causes death if the patient has underlying problems. Further investigations will be required to find out the reason behind deaths being reported due to viral influenza,’’ she said.

India has recently launched indigenous swine flu vaccines. However, not many have got themselves inoculated possibly due to the fear of side-effects. Meanwhile, WHO director general Margaret Chan said since the 2009 H1N1 virus had ‘‘largely run its course’’, it was no longer considered a pandemic.