Swine flu cases on the rise in Delhi

This Sunday a new case of H1N1 influenza was reported, and this takes the total number of swine flu cases in the city to 22. Six human-to-human transmission cases have been reported in the country and out of these five are from Delhi.

The number of cases in Delhi is even more than in Hyderabad, which has 15 confirmed cases till now. Earlier, Hyderabad was referred as the swine flu capital of India, but now the situation seems different.

Patients treated at government hospitals
The latest victim is a 15-year-old boy who came to Delhi from New York. He has been admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital as of now. 13 people out of the 22 confirmed cases are being treated at various government hospitals across the city.

Dr Anjan Prakash, additional nodal officer for H1N1 influenza, Delhi government, stated, “There are eight patients in RML, three in Airport Health Organisation Hospital and two in Deen Dayal Upadhayay Hospital.”

Health authorities taking strict measures
The health authorities are perturbed at the pace with which the number of H1N1 cases have risen in the city in the past few days. The health department of the Delhi government is now on a high alert and screening and contact-tracing drives have been made stringent.

Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia, was quoted as saying, “Delhi is one of the main cities in the country. We get a lot of people from abroad and generally people are travelling.

“Another reason for the sudden increase in the number is that we are doing aggressive contact tracing of people who have tested positive for H1N1 influenza. We had examined eight relatives of a 35-year-old woman, who tested positive, and had admitted four of them as they were showing flu-like symptoms. Four people from that family tested positive.

“All were human-to-human transmission cases. Once a case is tested positive, we send our teams to track all the possible family members who had come in contact with the patient.”

The health department is also trying to raise rigorous public awareness through campaigns so that more and more people become aware of how the disease is spread and what preventive measures can be taken. A large number of doctors from the government hospitals are being trained so that they can identify H1N1 influenza in the nascent stages to prevent further damage.

“There was a case reported from Tihar jail who was admitted in DDU (Deen Dayal Upadhyaya) Hospital two days back. The man had travelled from US and was showing flu-like symptoms. He tested negative, but the doctor in jail was prompt enough to send him to our facility for testing.

“We are telling doctors to send patients to designated hospitals in case they come across any such patient. We are taking all measures to contain the spread of this infection," Walia added.