H1N1 claims 5 more lives, death toll 106

Swine flu claimed five more lives Wednesday, taking the country wide toll to 106. Andhra Pradesh reported two deaths, its first fatalities, while two more fell prey to the influenza in Maharashtra, and one casualty was reported in Karnataka.

Details of the five fatalities
In Andhra Pradesh, the two deaths were from Hyderabad. The first was a 25-year-old government employee who died on Tuesday at the Government Chest hospital.

He had been hospitalized on Aug. 31 in a critical condition with high fever and severe complications of pneumonia and was put on ventilator. He had tested positive for the H1N1 virus.

The second victim was a 35-year old woman who had also tested positive for H1N1 virus. Dr K Subhakar, swine flu coordinator at a corporate hospital, stated that other details related to her case are not yet known.

In Maharashtra, a 25-year lady Gayatri died in Mumbai on Tuesday evening. A resident of Virar in Thane district, Gayatri, was suffering from a bout of fever and acute breathlessness for a week. She initially took treatment at a private clinic before being shifted to civic hospital.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar stated, “The victim came very late for treatment. She undertook treatment at private doctors for five days and came to Kasturba on August 30 with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Her throat swap was taken and she was given Tamiflu.”

In Pune, the center of the epidemic, the demise of a 53-year-old man Rajendra Dake was reported at the government-run Sassoon hospital on Wednesday. Dake had been undergoing treatment in a civic Naidu hospital since Aug. 22 and had been shifted to Sassoon hospital in a very critical condition.

The fifth casualty Shahida Misgar, 36, was admitted in a private hospital in Karnataka on Aug. 31 with severe respiratory problems and high fever. She succumbed to the disease in the early hours of Wednesday.

Swine flu update from across the country
With 97 fresh cases testing positive for H1N1, the total number of positive cases in the country has hit 4,198.

"Till date, samples from 22,847 people have been tested for influenza A (H1N1) in various government laboratories across the country and 4,198 of them have been found positive," the health ministry said in a statement.

Karnataka topped the list with the largest number of fresh cases Wednesday. With 31 detected cases, the total number of positive cases in the state has gone up to 494.

Close on the heels came Tamil Nadu, where 22 people tested positive for the viral.

Delhi was not far behind, reporting 10 positive cases on Wednesday. With this figure, the total number of people affected by the virus in the capital touched 675, the second highest in the country.

Elsewhere, Gujarat reported (9), Kerala (6), West Bengal (5), Uttarakhand (3), Haryana (2) and Uttar Pradesh (1).

Meanwhile, 56 people have died in Maharashtra, 28 in Karnataka, eight in Gujarat, three in Tamil Nadu and Delhi, two each in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and one each in Goa, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand.