Swine flu cases spiked in July; don’t panic, say doctors

Swine flu cases across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region witnessed an upward trend in July

Swine flu cases across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region witnessed an upward trend in July.

A BMC worker fumigates at Byculla on Tuesday Satish Bate/HT Photo

Mumbai reported 105 H1N1 cases last month against 21 in July 2021, data from the public health department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) shows. July’s figures have also by a long shot surpassed those in the entire last two years – 64 in 2021 and 44 in 2020. In fact, the number of cases in the first 24 days of July stood at 62, while the city clocked 43 cases in the last seven days of the month.

Thane city recorded 117 cases while Navi Mumbai saw 16 cases in July.

“H1N1 has a cyclical trend. There were just two cases in June but the number went up in July. We witness this trend every alternate year. That’s why we cannot compare it with last July figures but it is true that cases are increasing,” Mangala Gomare, BMC’s executive health officer, said.

She, however, said there is no cause for panic since it is neither very infectious nor transmissible. “It is an air-borne infection, so one has to manage cough etiquettes, hand hygiene. Consult your doctor for medication.”

Doctors in private hospitals said the spike is likely a combination of a rise in cases and enhanced testing with molecular tests.

“Monsoons are known to be the season in which influenza peaks in India. This is the first monsoon post-pandemic in which we have unrestricted social intermingling, including schools, public transport, workplaces and recreational settings such as cinema halls and restaurants,” Dr Lancelot Pinto, pulmonologist and epidemiologist at PD Hinduja Hospital, said.

“Those who are elderly and/or immunocompromised or have comorbidities should get vaccinated with the influenza vaccine,” he added.

About other ailments like gastroenteritis cases which have also seen a jump from 294 cases in July 2021 to 679 cases this year, Gomare said, “It is a waterborne disease and during the pandemic there were a few cases due to the lockdown. That helped us and cases were under control since people were eating home-cooked food. But now people are moving for work and are eating out and enjoying street food. There will be a spike in gastro and typhoid cases.”