sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
KARACHI: Expectant mother dies of swine flu
By Mukhtar Alam
Sunday, 20 Dec, 2009
KARACHI, Dec 19: A pregnant woman admitted to a private hospital became on Saturday the second known person in the city to die of swine flu during the last two weeks.
The woman, reportedly in the second trimester of pregnancy, was admitted to the National Medical Centre in the Defence Housing Authority about a week back and kept in the ICU for supportive care. She was included in the list of the 30 patients tested positive for swine flu (H1N1) by the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) till Dec 17.
The official in charge of the swine flu surveillance cell of the Sindh health department, Dr Shakil Mullick, said that the woman was 25 years old and she died at around 11am on Saturday. ?I have been told by the hospital that the patient had no contact history,? he said.
About a female nurse admitted to the Sindh Government Services Hospital after being tested positive for swine flu by the National Institute of Health in Islamabad on Friday, the official said that she was well. In the given situation, however, he cautioned the people that they adopt precautionary measures even while suffering from seasonal flu and consult physicians.
On Dec 10, the chairperson of the infectious control committee at the AKUH, Dr Bushra Jamil, had said that her hospital, which started attending to patients thought to be suffering from swine flu in June, was also receiving a disproportionate number of severely ill pregnant women who were suspected of having contracted swine flu.
A medical officer from the NMC said on Saturday that the pregnant woman was admitted to hospital on Dec 12 and had since been getting Tamiflu. She had a weak immune system and was already undergoing some other health complications.
He said the deceased patient lived in the PECHS and was expecting her first baby.
The paramedical staff and doctors who treated her had also been prescribed Tamiflu as a precautionary measure, the doctor said in reply to a question.
Experts say that pregnant women, even if they are healthy, are at a high risk of hospitalisation and death from swine flu. A well-considered analysis has shown that pregnant women are more likely than the general public to develop severe disease after infection with the pandemic H1N1 swine flu virus, said a senior doctor, adding that such women were four times more likely to be hospitalised, with an unusually high death rate.
With the latest death, the number of deaths caused by swine flu in the city became two, while the total number of patients tested positive for swine flu, either by the AKUH or NIH, reached 32.
Speaking to Dawn, the director-general in the federal health ministry, Prof Rashid Jooma, said on Friday that in all, 76 people had been tested positive for swine flu by the NIH in the country, while the number of deaths was nine.
The DG?s figure on swine flu does not include the deaths taking place in Karachi and 26 cases found positive for swine flu by the AKUH laboratory.
In reply to a question, he said that about two million protective vaccines against swine flu would be available in the country under the Expanded Programme on Immunisation in mid-January. The initial recipients of the vaccines would be pregnant women and the medical and paramedical personnel handling swine flu cases at hospitals across the country, he added.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect...arachi-expectant-mother-dies-of-swine-flu-029
By Mukhtar Alam
Sunday, 20 Dec, 2009
KARACHI, Dec 19: A pregnant woman admitted to a private hospital became on Saturday the second known person in the city to die of swine flu during the last two weeks.
The woman, reportedly in the second trimester of pregnancy, was admitted to the National Medical Centre in the Defence Housing Authority about a week back and kept in the ICU for supportive care. She was included in the list of the 30 patients tested positive for swine flu (H1N1) by the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) till Dec 17.
The official in charge of the swine flu surveillance cell of the Sindh health department, Dr Shakil Mullick, said that the woman was 25 years old and she died at around 11am on Saturday. ?I have been told by the hospital that the patient had no contact history,? he said.
About a female nurse admitted to the Sindh Government Services Hospital after being tested positive for swine flu by the National Institute of Health in Islamabad on Friday, the official said that she was well. In the given situation, however, he cautioned the people that they adopt precautionary measures even while suffering from seasonal flu and consult physicians.
On Dec 10, the chairperson of the infectious control committee at the AKUH, Dr Bushra Jamil, had said that her hospital, which started attending to patients thought to be suffering from swine flu in June, was also receiving a disproportionate number of severely ill pregnant women who were suspected of having contracted swine flu.
A medical officer from the NMC said on Saturday that the pregnant woman was admitted to hospital on Dec 12 and had since been getting Tamiflu. She had a weak immune system and was already undergoing some other health complications.
He said the deceased patient lived in the PECHS and was expecting her first baby.
The paramedical staff and doctors who treated her had also been prescribed Tamiflu as a precautionary measure, the doctor said in reply to a question.
Experts say that pregnant women, even if they are healthy, are at a high risk of hospitalisation and death from swine flu. A well-considered analysis has shown that pregnant women are more likely than the general public to develop severe disease after infection with the pandemic H1N1 swine flu virus, said a senior doctor, adding that such women were four times more likely to be hospitalised, with an unusually high death rate.
With the latest death, the number of deaths caused by swine flu in the city became two, while the total number of patients tested positive for swine flu, either by the AKUH or NIH, reached 32.
Speaking to Dawn, the director-general in the federal health ministry, Prof Rashid Jooma, said on Friday that in all, 76 people had been tested positive for swine flu by the NIH in the country, while the number of deaths was nine.
The DG?s figure on swine flu does not include the deaths taking place in Karachi and 26 cases found positive for swine flu by the AKUH laboratory.
In reply to a question, he said that about two million protective vaccines against swine flu would be available in the country under the Expanded Programme on Immunisation in mid-January. The initial recipients of the vaccines would be pregnant women and the medical and paramedical personnel handling swine flu cases at hospitals across the country, he added.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect...arachi-expectant-mother-dies-of-swine-flu-029