A three-year-old girl, who is one of the two patients who tested positive for the H1N1 virus on Monday, is in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Nair Hospital. “The patient has been administered Tamiflu and we are monitoring her health in the ICU,” said Dr RV Rananavare, dean, Nair Hospital.
On Wednesday, the Hindustan Times had reported that two patients in the city tested positive for the H1N1 virus, which causes swine flu. Civic officials had confirmed that a 37-year-old woman from Chandivli and the three-year-old girl from Tardeo had tested positive for the virus.
The two patients are the first positive H1N1 cases in the city since January. However, city doctors feel that the virus is not a serious threat as people have developed an immunity to it.
“When H1N1 virus raised its head in 2009, it was totally new and people had less immunity to fight it. However, now the immunity of the people towards the virus has increased,” said Dr Abhay Chowdhary, director of the Haffkine Institute in Parel, which conducts tests to confirm the presence of H1N1 virus in swabs. BMC officials have asked city doctors to administer Tamiflu to patients as soon they suspect them contracting swine flu.
“There will be a few isolated cases this year. We are expecting that the cases will go down compared to last two years. Usually any virus mutates in two years and H1N1 too has passed that stage and will die its death,” said Dr Khusrav Bajan, consulting physician, Hinduja Hospital.
{{/usCountry}}“There will be a few isolated cases this year. We are expecting that the cases will go down compared to last two years. Usually any virus mutates in two years and H1N1 too has passed that stage and will die its death,” said Dr Khusrav Bajan, consulting physician, Hinduja Hospital.
{{/usCountry}}Besides common flu symptoms such as cough and cold, swine flu patients also display additional symptoms such as chest pain, blood in the cough and severe pneumonia and muscle pain.
“There is no need to panic. However, people should look for warning signs and consult a doctor,” said Bajan.
“I haven’t seen patients with swine flu symptoms such as high fever and respiratory distress this year,” said Dr Pratit Samdani, physician at Jaslok Hospital.
51-yr-old man dies of malaria
A 51-year-old man from Prabhadevi died of malaria on Tuesday. According to data from the civic body, he was an alcohol addict and was admitted to a hospital on Sunday. with this death, the toll has risen to seven. On Wednesday, 47 patients tested positive for malaria. HTC
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