Wet spell: officials fear spurt in swine flu cases

[Commonground]

Saturday,Oct03,2009 HYDERABAD: Unseasonal showers in the districts and State capital can trigger a surge of fresh cases of viral fevers and could play a role in intensifying swine flu pandemic, health officials on Saturday warned. The dry and cold spell after the rains will give all viral forms including H1N1 congenial conditions to stay longer in the atmosphere and start spreading, many believe.
While the number of swine flu cases continued to decrease, on Saturday authorities confirmed 14 new swine flu cases, a H1N1 death has been reported from Visakhapatnam.
The victim, Venkat Satya Jagdesswara Rao (39), passed away in Visakhapatnam in the early hours of Saturday.
Another woman Veeramma died at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) with suspected swine flu symptoms. Authorities, however, said that the cause of the woman?s death is yet to be ascertained.
Death toll 37 The total death toll due to swine flu is now 37 and the number of swine flu positive cases so far is 629.
The Institute of Preventive (IPM) had tested 75 samples of which 14 are positive.
?Public should continue to take precautions because the dry and cold spell, which will follow rains, are ideal for transfer and growth of viral forms,? said State coordinator for swine flu Dr. K. Subhakar.
Till a week back, on an average, the number of cases testing positive for swine flu used to hover around 50 to 55 cases in a day.
However, since then, the average number has come down to 12 H1N1 positive cases a day. ?Public should precautionary measures when the dry and cold spell will follow rains,? Dr. Subhakar warned.
Meanwhile, the district health authorities informed that a special health camp would be organise for women prisoners at Chanchalguda jail.
?The medical camp is aimed to provide medical facilities to all kinds of ailments for woman inmates in the prison,? District Medical and Health Officer (DM&HO) Dr. Ch. Jaya Kumari said.

http://www.hindu.com/2009/10/03/stories/2009100354660500.htm

 

[Commonground]

Re: Wet spell: officials fear spurt in swine flu cases

Experts Warns Of Second Deadlier Wave Of A/H1N1 Flu

October 02, 2009 09:28 AM

NEW DELHI, Oct 2 (Bernama) -- Warning of a second wave of A/H1N1 or swine flu pandemic which might be highly pathogenic and have a high fatality rate, experts have asked the Government to be prepared to face any eventuality.

"A second wave of pandemic is likely to occur. The virus may acquire higher pathogenicity and increased case fatality," the Press Trust of India (PTI)quoted scientists at the Christian Medical College Vellore as saying in a report.

They added that the strain may also become resistant to antiviral drugs.

With the arrival of the delayed south-west monsoon rainy season, the virus is likely to spread - and may subsequently continue as endemic influenza for an unpredictable duration, the report published in the latest edition of the Indian Council for Medical Research journal says.

"India must also be prepared for other eventualities," it warns.

According to the scientists, the Ministry of Health should be aware of any such possibility so that plans could be made now to face each of the above eventualities.

The scientists noted that India does not have a public health infrastructure that could put into practice the Pandemic Preparedness and Response Plan (PPRP).

"Therefore, ad hoc and make shift plans were made and implemented in urban communities to fit the available healthcare facilities, ignoring the majority rural population," the scientists said.

Steps should also be taken by the government to establish public health infrastructure for long term benefits and equity in healthcare services, the scientists said.

Soon after the pandemic declaration by World Health Organisation (WHO), India began checking passengers arriving at international airports for symptoms of influenza and for testing for H1N1 infection.

This process, although well known to be insufficient to stop the entry of the virus and spread within the country, gave an additional 2-3 weeks of time to slow down the spread which should have been sufficient to rapidly activate the PPRP for systematic interventions.

According to the earlier version of PPRP, a Crisis Management Committee and a Pandemic Intervention Committee were to be established as soon as the threat was perceived to be at our doorsteps.

The experts said that the Government had formulated a pandemic preparedness plan following a WHO advisory which failed after the swine flu outbreak as India does not have sufficient health infrastructure to implement it.

The expectation was that influenza PPRP could be implemented through the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) under the Department of Health Services (DHS) of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research.

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=443770