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People above 55 more prone to swine flu: Ludhiana health dept report
The data also revealed that the inclination of the swine flu virus was more towards the females (52%) in comparison to males (48%).
People above the age of 55 were more vulnerable to the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, in 2019, states the annual report of district health department.
As per the report examining the previous year’s data, about 43% of the patients who tested positive for the disease last year were above 55 years of age, while 22.1% belonged to the 45-54 age group. The report shows data between January and December 2019.
Dr Divjot Singh, epidemiologist, district health department, said the reason why middle-age and old-age groups were more susceptible to the flu was comorbidity, a condition where one or more diseases co-occur with a primary disease.
“Usually, in such cases, people are already suffering from other diseases such as diabetes, hyperthyroidism and kidney problems which make them more prone to viral diseases like swine flu as their immunity is already weak,” Dr Divjot said.
Other than the middle-age group, 12.8% of the positive cases were detected among children less than the age of five. 9.3% of swine flu cases were found in the age group of 25 to 35.
The data also revealed that the inclination of the swine flu virus was more towards the females (52%) in comparison to males (48%).
In 2019, Ludhiana had witnessed six deaths due to the swine flu, while one death was reported in 2018.
381 suspected cases of H1N1 were reported from various areas of the district till December 31, 2019, while 13 suspected cases of the deadly virus have been witnessed in January.
No positive case reported in 2020
Even though the months of December and January have been recording the majority of the H1N1 cases in the past few years, no confirmed case in the district has been reported so far in 2020.
The only case that was reported at the DMCH in the second week of January was that of a child of around 19 months from Dharamkot city of Moga district.
“We have conducted two detailed workshops wherein we involved all multi-specialty and super-specialty hospitals besides public medical facilities regarding the preparation to tackle the H1N1 cases. We have set up swine flu corners at every government-run facility while the private sector has been directed to follow the same. The district education department has also been instructed that any child showing flu-like symptoms should be granted seven days’ leave without the demand for any medical certificate and students must be taught how to save themselves from contracting the virus,” civil surgeon Dr Rajesh Kumar Bagga said.
“We advise all people to take preventive measures since the weather is still cold,” he added.
