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Woman cured of swine flu, falls prey to H1N1 again
Himanshu Bhatt, TNN 5 November 2009, 10:22pm IST|
SURAT: At least 100 positive swine flu cases were reported from Surat and 19 deaths till date. What has added to the worry of the health department
is the fear of recurrence of the disease in cured patients.
One such case has been reported in the city. A 35-year-old housewife from Nana Varacha was infected with H1N1 and was admitted for treatment in SMIMER in October first week.
She underwent the test and reported positive following which, the woman was put through full course of medication. She was released from the hospital after 10 days. However, she was readmitted with suspected swine flu last weekend and has been tested positive again. The woman was given the treatment again and was released from the hospital a few days ago.
"She had a mild infection and so was cured clinically and sent home," said Dr Hemant Desai, medical officer, Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC).
"This is a big worry. The second wave is likely to come in December January and we have no mechanism in place wherein cured patients can be tested and be absolutely certain that they would no longer be infected with H1N1," said a doctor treating swine flu patients in New Civil Hospital (NCH).
"We don't test the cured patients at the time of their release so the chances of recurrence are there," Dr Desai said.
Dr S Mulla, professor and head of the department of Microbiology, NCH, said, "We have no procedure in place for re-testing."
"Generally, a patient who is cured develops natural immunity towards the disease after undergoing the course of medication. However, he is likely to get some new infection that could again lead to recurrence of the disease,"Dr Desai added.
Meanwhile, there were no new positive cases reported from the city. There were at present seven patients who were receiving treatment in NCH for H1N1.
Himanshu Bhatt, TNN 5 November 2009, 10:22pm IST|
SURAT: At least 100 positive swine flu cases were reported from Surat and 19 deaths till date. What has added to the worry of the health department
is the fear of recurrence of the disease in cured patients.
One such case has been reported in the city. A 35-year-old housewife from Nana Varacha was infected with H1N1 and was admitted for treatment in SMIMER in October first week.
She underwent the test and reported positive following which, the woman was put through full course of medication. She was released from the hospital after 10 days. However, she was readmitted with suspected swine flu last weekend and has been tested positive again. The woman was given the treatment again and was released from the hospital a few days ago.
"She had a mild infection and so was cured clinically and sent home," said Dr Hemant Desai, medical officer, Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC).
"This is a big worry. The second wave is likely to come in December January and we have no mechanism in place wherein cured patients can be tested and be absolutely certain that they would no longer be infected with H1N1," said a doctor treating swine flu patients in New Civil Hospital (NCH).
"We don't test the cured patients at the time of their release so the chances of recurrence are there," Dr Desai said.
Dr S Mulla, professor and head of the department of Microbiology, NCH, said, "We have no procedure in place for re-testing."
"Generally, a patient who is cured develops natural immunity towards the disease after undergoing the course of medication. However, he is likely to get some new infection that could again lead to recurrence of the disease,"Dr Desai added.
Meanwhile, there were no new positive cases reported from the city. There were at present seven patients who were receiving treatment in NCH for H1N1.
