JOIN USSwine flu back, but don’t panic
Amid the coronavirus scare, H1N1, also known as swine flu, had largely been forgotten. But two cases reported from an SAP office in Bengaluru, and a report about Supreme Court judges catching the flu, have brought the attention back.
Since the global pandemic of swine flu broke out in 2009, vaccinations and treatments were developed, and ‘herd immunity’ has been formed, doctors say. However, this doesn’t mean no risk.
According to data from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) 880 cases of H1N1 and 14 deaths have been reported from across the country this year (as of February 16). Of these, 152 are from Karnataka. This was before the cases at SAP came to light.
Dr Subrata Das, senior consultant for internal medicine and diabetology at Sakra World Hospital, says the outbreak of swine flu is an annual affair. “This year, the resurgence happened during the coronavirus outbreak, so there’s panic. But it is not as dangerous or communicable (as coronavirus),” he says.
Similar symptoms
Dr L Sreenivasamurthy, physician and diabetologist, Apollo Hospital, says the symptoms of swine flu and coronovirus infection are the same: high-grade fever, cough, body ache, sore throat and breathlessness.
“We’ve had people come to us to get tested for coronavirus while ignoring the more common threat of swine flu. There isn’t a confirmed case of the former in Karnataka, let alone Bengaluru, while the latter has been occurring periodically since 2009,” he says.
Compared to earlier years, the incidence is lower and the window of risk gets smaller as the temperature increases. “The heat kills these viruses,” he explains.
Shut for fumigation
As a precaution against swine flu, the SAP office in RMZ Ecoworld was shut for sanitisation and fumigation. The company has asked employees to work from home until February 28
(as per an internal order) and monitor their health. Other offices in the area have also taken up sanitisation. Dr Sreenivasamurthy says this is largely an overreaction.
“With the SAP scare, IT companies have been panicking and asking anyone who sneezes to take leave or work from home. Instead they should focus on educating the employees on safe practices and personal hygiene,” he says.
Full office at hospital
Dr Subrata Das says almost 90 per cent of swine flu patients can be treated as outpatients. “I had an entire office come in to get tested, but we only do that if the patients present with high-grade fever. In fact, mild symptoms can be fought off by the body with no medicine,” he says.
This does not mean people with symptoms can self-medicate. “For mild cases we usually do a course of medicines without antibiotics, and then move on to antibiotics. Only if they don’t work do we start them on an anti-viral drug,” says Dr Sreenivasamurthy.
Easy access to Tamiflu
He also explains that Tamiflu, the drug for H1N1, is available over the counter. “We see a lot of patients who buy the medicine without prescriptions and develop resistance to it. Most of the time they don’t have the illness and are messing up their chance to combat it later,” he says.
Even in case an immunocompetent person catches the virus, there is no need to panic.
“While it may limit them physically, the mortality rate is very low,” he says. People who need to watch out for the symptoms more alertly are those with diabetes and asthma, pregnant women, people who have recently undergone surgery, the elderly, and those with suppressed immunity.
Precautions
The World health Organisation has a set of guidelines to protect yourself from swine flu:
Avoid crowded closed spaces and close contact with people suffering from respiratory infections.
Frequently wash hands, especially after direct contact with sick persons or their environment.
Practise cough etiquette (maintain distance, cover coughs and sneezes with disposable tissue or clothing, wash hands, use alcohol-based sanitiser).
Two seasons
India usually witnesses two peak seasons for swine flu: January to March and August to October. Nine of 10 people infected are treated as outpatients, doctors say.