Explosion of secondary H1N1 infection in India

TNN 9 August 2009, 03:49am IST

It seems the H1N1 Influenza virus is fast becoming entrenched in India. The country is now seeing an explosion of secondary cases of H1N1 infection --people who haven't travelled to an infected country but may have got the virus from an infected individual.

Of the 3,624 people tested till now, 782 were found to be positive. Of these cases, 511 have been discharged. India has reported two deaths.

A central team was sent to Pune on Saturday to assess the situation and institute appropriate public measures.

Meanwhile on Saturday, India recorded 71 new cases of H1N1 infection -- Pune (34), Mumbai (2), Chennai (7), Delhi (13), Amritsar (1), Faridabad (1) Bangalore (10), Manipal/Mangalore (3).

Of these, almost 59 cases were of secondary infection.

The worst was Pune. Except for one case in Pune -- a 34-year-old male passenger who travelled from UK -- all other 33 cases are indigenous, most of them reporting social or school contacts.

Of the 13 cases in Delhi, two have history -- an 11-year-old who travelled from Singapore and a 13-year-old who travelled from Manchester, UK. All other cases are contact of earlier reported positive cases.

Of the seven cases reported in Chennai, three are travel related cases. In Bangalore which reported 10 fresh cases of H1N1 infection, none had a travel history.

One of the two cases reported in Mumbai is a six-year-old who travelled from London.

The other case is a 53-year-old female who was referred to an identified government health facility in Mumbai on the night of August 7 with acute respiratory distress from a private hospital. She tested positive on Saturday afternoon and died around 4.30 pm.

Health screening of passengers coming from affected countries is continuing in 22 International airports. On Saturday, 47,246 passengers were screened of which 33,164 passengers were from affected countries. As many as 224 doctors and 151 paramedics are manning 81 counters at these airports. Till now, India has screened over 44.8 lakh passengers.