19-yr-old Chembur man first to die of swine flu in city since 2010

A 19-year-old Chembur resident and a 44-year-old nurse from Nerul succumbed to swine flu-related ailments on Wednesday, taking the total number of swine flu deaths in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) to four. From January this year, 35 people have died of the H1N1 virus in the state.

A 19-year-old Chembur resident and a 44-year-old nurse from Nerul succumbed to swine flu-related ailments on Wednesday, taking the total number of swine flu deaths in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) to four. From January this year, 35 people have died of the H1N1 virus in the state.

HT Image

Vinay Talewar, 19, who died at Kasturba Hospital, Chinkpokli, is the first Mumbai resident to succumb to the virus in the last two years. In April, a 23-year-old pregnant woman from Dhule had died of swine flu-related ailments at JJ Hospital.

Despite four deaths in MMR, civic authorities maintained there was no need to panic and recommended that high-risk patients such as pregnant women, the elderly, children and those with low immunity should exercise caution.

Civic authorities said Talewar suffered from epilepsy (a brain disease in which a person has repeated seizures) and was severely malnourished, weighing only 35 kg.

“He came to the hospital with acute breathlessness as a result of pneumonia. He was not even put on any antibiotic treatment for pneumonia,” said a doctor who treated Talewar. Doctors said that he died of pneumonia and had developed acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Talewar’s maternal uncle, Kiran Pawar, said that Talewar had been suffering from fever for the past 10 days and none of the doctors who treated him suspected swine flu. The civic body will screen people who came in contact with Talewar for the H1N1 virus.

The swine flu death toll in Navi Mumbai reached two on Wednesday, with the death of Suman Kamble, 44, who worked as an auxiliary nurse midwife at a health care centre run by the Navi Mumbai civic body in Vashi. Kamble had taken ill on July 18. She was admitted to a private hospital, Terna Sahyadri in Nerul, on July 27.

Following a positive report of H1N1 virus she was shifted to NMMC hospital on July 28. Doctors at NMMC hospital say she had shown signs of improvement but then her health deteriorated on August 1 and she passed away.

"After this incident we are keeping a close check on the health of rest of her family members," said Dr Ratnesh Mhatre, in charge of the swine flu cases.