No let up in swine flu, countrywide toll mounts to 89

M Shaikh, who had tested positive for the virus, had undergone treatment at MGM Hospital in Navi Mumbai for ten days and was shifted to D Y Patil Hospital, also in the same area, on Thursday, Navi Mumbai Chief Health Officer Deepak Paropkari said.

Shaikh died last night, he said. With this death, the nationwide flu toll climbed to 89.
Maharashtra now accounts for 47 fatalities-- 25 in Pune, ten in Mumbai, seven in Nashik, two in Aurangabad and one each in Dhule and Latur.

20 people have died in Karnataka, seven in Gujarat, three each in Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Delhi, two in Uttarakhand and one each in Kerala, Goa, Rajasthan and Haryana.

The flu spurt continued across the country with 123 fresh cases of the viral disease being detected on Thursday, bringing the total number of those who had been infected to 3,396, Health Ministry officials said in Delhi.

The Ministry said that the virus was affecting people in the 14 to 44 age bracket more and late reporting for treatment was the reason for most of the deaths.

Director General of Health Services R K Srivastava, quoting a survey by the Ministry, said on Thursday that instances of death occurred when people infected by the virus reported for proper treatment five days or more after the symptoms surfaced.

Srivastava said the study was conducted from random sample analyses of 30 people who died due to the virus infection.

"Though the sample size is too small for a scientific study, it gives us a broad idea of the case patterns," he said.

The DGHS said there had also been a slight change in the clinical pattern of the behaviour of the swine flu virus with a tendency for increased severity manifesting itself.
Asking the people with symptoms of fever, breathlessness and cold to immediately report to a doctor, he said it is the only way to save lives.

The Ministry said 14 fresh cases of infection were reported on Thursday in Tamil Nadu, 24 in Maharashtra, 13 in Delhi, 21 in Karnataka, five in Kerala, nine in Uttar Pradesh 9 and 31 in Andhra Pradesh.

So far, samples of 18,584 people have been tested of which 3,396 have been found to be positive. The highest number of flu positive cases at 1,499 has been reported from Maharashtra followed by 553 cases in Delhi.