Another suspected death as swine flu rages on

NAGPUR: Yet another patient suspected to be suffering from swine flu died on Wednesday even before report of his throat sample was processed. Six female patients admitted in Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and KRIMS Hospital tested H1N1 positive on the day. Two of them were kids below the age of ten.
Samples sent by GMCH for testing to Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGMCH) could not be processed on Wednesday because of the high pendency and a holiday on Sunday.Vithal Manekar, 41, a resident of Ayodhya Nagar, was brought to GMCH on Tuesday as a suspected swine flu patient. His samples were sent for testing the next morning but he passed away on Wednesday evening. There have been several incidents this year of suspected patients dying before it could be ascertained whether they had swine flu.
“As of Wednesday evening, there are 12 confirmed patients and 23 suspected patients in the swine flu ward. The number of child patients is also increasing with five confirmed and five suspected swine flu patients admitted in the paediatric ward,” informed an official from GMCH.
Three samples from the hospital that tested positive on Wednesday belonged to a 47-year-old woman and two girls aged 7 and 4. Three women aged 32, 54 and 50 admitted at KRIMS Hospital also tested positive the same day. The fact that children are being affected by the disease for the first time since 2009 has concerned the doctors a lot. They say schools and parents need to be more proactive now to protect their children.
Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) authorities said the number of positive cases was going down gradually. “With temperatures increasing and summer on its way, we hope the number of patients and deaths will go down further,” said an official. He added that considering the high number of child patients, school principals were also included in the trainings being conducted by NMC for health workers.
Meanwhile, the number of patients found H1N1 positive and those who have died because of it differ depending upon the source. While NMC counts the deaths so far in the city to be 32, district authorities put the number at 35. Another independent source put the numbers of confirmed patients and deaths at 174 and 39.
Civil surgeon Dr Umesh Nawade said while negative figures like number of deaths have been flashed regularly, one must see that 142 people were cured of the disease. “These may have been patients who came to the doctors on time and got timely treatment. So, people need to be cautious rather than scared and panicky,” he added.
SOURCE --- SCREENED --- POSITIVES --- DEATHS
GMCH --- 172 --- 65 --- 14
NMC --- 1593 --- 102 --- 32*
Civil surgeon --- 3039 --- 165 --- 35**
* 15 in the city, 17 from rural and other areas
** 18 in the city, 5 rural, 12 out of Nagpur