August 2, 2012
The death of Vinay Talewar, a 19-year-old youth from Chembur in Mumbai, is giving health experts a severe chill. Vinay died at the civic run Kasturba hospital on Wednesday. While this is the first fatality of swine flu in Mumbai city in close to two years, what is worrying state health officials is this year's rapid rise of people contracting swine flu.
Last year the state saw 316 positive cases of swine flu. This year till July, Mumbai alone has seen 213 positive cases of H1N1 virus.
The virus afflicting people in the monsoon is also one of the reasons why people don't take it seriously when they get ill. When Vinay fell sick on July 28, he and his family didn't realise that he had contracted swine flu. In fact not just him but even the local doctor he went to mistook his fever and cough that he was suffering from as just another common cold and began treating it the same way. Within a couple of days his family and doctors realised that he was suffering from some thing else as he stopped responding to the medicines and his condition began worsening. Doctors said that when he was finally admitted to Kasturba hospital it was too late.
According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) statistics 35 people tested positive in June and in July another 89 people tested positive. We are seeing more cases this month because a higher number of people are getting themselves tested for H1N1. However, people should avoid unnecessary testing as H1N1 is like any other seasonal influenza,รข€ said Dr Mangala Gomare, epidemiologist, BMC.
No comments:
Post a Comment