A Pune girl, aged 14, who was detected positive for the virus on July 31, passed away on August 3 evening.
Infection confirmed after 10 days
The girls first showed flu like symptoms like running nose, headache, on July 21. Till July 23, she kept attending school. Meanwhile she consulted a general practitioner.
Thereafter, she reported high fever and was admitted to a private nursing home, the Jehangir hospital, on July 27. Her condition deteriorated and she was moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and put on a ventilator.
“On July 31, her throat and nose swab was sent to National Institute of Virology (Pune) which confirmed that she was infected with H1N1. The same day, almost 10 days after her symptoms first appeared, she was administered the first dose of Tamilfu, which was too late,” revealed Maharashtra’s health secretary Sharvari Gokhale.
The health secretary expressed his concern that despite urging people to report swine flu like symptoms immediately to stipulated government hospitals only, instructions are not being followed.
The girl lost precious days between July 21 when she first had flu like symptoms and July 27, when she was admitted to a hospital. Worse still, she had been attending school in the interim.
As a precautionary measure, the health officials will be visiting the girl’s school to trace all possible contact cases there and take preventive action.
Underlying medical condition
People with underlying medical conditions are more susceptible to the swine flu virus. The first fatality in the Indian sub continent too had a lung infection.
Assistant Medical Officer of the Pune Municipal Corporation Dr. S T Pardeshi said, “The girl already had a lung infection because of which she had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the city’s Jehangir Hospital.”
“She was later detected with swine flu. I believe that the girl died of the lung infection. I agree that people abroad have died of this infection. But Indians have greater immunity to it.”
The swine flu scenario
The tally of people who have tested positive for the lethal swine flu virus in the country stands at 558. According to the health officials, it has spread to 22 cities in the country.
Meanwhile, the influenza has infected more than 130,000 people in 135 countries. It has sniffed life out of 816 worldwide, primarily in North and South America.
The current pandemic has its epicenter in Mexico where the first swine flu infection was reported in April this year.
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