Bangaloreans learning to 'live' with H1N1 virus

Bangaloreans are fast adapting to fight the spread of Influenza A (H1N1) virus with the death toll due to swine flu having reached 20 here.

Of the 25 swine flu deaths in the state, Bangalore accounts for the largest number. Udupi's toll is two while one each died in Belgaum, Bijapur and Kolar.

"Prevention is better than cure. I always make it a point to wear a mask and use hand sanitizer while going out of the home. I travel in buses and come in contact with different people, so I take all preventive measures to avoid getting infected by H1N1 virus than repenting later," bank executive Sama Khan said.

"Having a job at hand, I can not avoid going to public places and using public transportation. So, I am just following few safety tips to keep the virus at bay," she added.

Echoing her views, Roshini Nair, a BPO employee and mother of a six-year-old child, said she got her son checked thoroughly recently in a nursing home after he showed flu-like symptoms.

"Recently when my son had fever and coughing, I immediately took him to the nearby nursing home and got proper check-up done. Thankfully, he was not infected with the virus. But, it is always safe to be alert and act," she said.

According to health experts, after initial panic, now Bangaloreans are learning to "live" with the virus.

"As a knee-jerk reaction to the pandemic, several schools in the city initially decided to close campuses to keep the children safe from being infected by the virus. However, now they have adopted a more intelligent approach and some of them are even taking help from doctors to check the students at school campuses also," Principal Secretary (Health) I.R. Perumal said .

"Moreover, it does not make any sense to keep the schools closed for long and hamper studies. People should not panic and rather adopt preventive measures to keep swine flu from spreading further, added Perumal.

Several schools have also fumigated their campuses, in order to avoid taking any chances.

Along with schools, government and private offices, including large number of IT companies in Bangalore are taking all preventive measures to keep their offices free from the virus.

At IT companies, regular mails from seniors are educating employees of the preventive measures to be adopted to "fight" the virus.

"Now, sick leaves are granted easily. Earlier lots of questions were being raised, if employees take leave for flu. Now, seniors are encouraging us to take rest and get ourselves checked properly if we have any flu-like symptoms," software professional Dhiraj Dev Shah said.