No let up in swine flu, countrywide toll mounts to 89

Mumbai/New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) The swine flu pandemic
showed no let up and claimed the life of a 39-year-old man in
Mumbai, pushing the toll to 89 while 123 fresh cases of
infection were detected across India.

M Shaikh, who had tested positive for the virus, had
undergone treatment at MGM Hospital in Navi Mumbai for ten
days and was shifted to D Y Patil Hospital, also in the same
area, Thursday, Navi Mumbai Chief Health Officer Deepak
Paropkari said.

Shaikh died Thursday night, he said. With this death,
the nationwide flu toll climbed to 89.

The western state of Maharashtra now accounts for 47
fatalities-- 25 in Pune, ten in Mumbai, seven in Nashik, two
in Aurangabad and one each in Dhule and Latur.

20 people have died in Karnataka, seven in Gujarat,
three each in Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Delhi, two in
Uttarakhand and one each in Kerala, Goa, Rajasthan and
Haryana.

The flu spurt continued across the country with 123
fresh cases of the viral disease being detected Thursday,
bringing the total number of those who had been infected to
3,396, Health Ministry officials said in Delhi.

The Ministry said that the virus was affecting people
in the 14 to 44 age bracket more and late reporting for
treatment was the reason for most of the deaths.

Director General of Health Services R K Srivastava,
quoting a survey by the Ministry, said Thursday that instances
of death occurred when people infected by the virus reported
for proper treatment five days or more after the symptoms
surfaced.

Srivastava said the study was conducted from random
sample analyses of 30 people who died due to the virus
infection.

"Though the sample size is too small for a scientific
study, it gives us a broad idea of the case patterns," he
said.

The DGHS said there had also been a slight change in
the clinical pattern of the behaviour of the swine flu virus
with a tendency for increased severity manifesting itself.

Asking the people with symptoms of fever,
breathlessness and cold to immediately report to a doctor, he
said it is the only way to save lives.

The Ministry said 14 fresh cases of infection were
reported Thursday in Tamil Nadu, 24 in Maharashtra, 13 in
Delhi, 21 in Karnataka, five in Kerala, nine in Uttar Pradesh
9 and 31 in Andhra Pradesh.

So far, samples of 18,584 people have been tested of
which 3,396 have been found to be positive. The highest number
of flu positive cases at 1,499 has been reported from
Maharashtra followed by 553 cases in Delhi. PTI Team
ANU