Health authorities in the district have sounded an alert on Influenza A (H1N1), urging people to watch out for the symptoms and follow basic directions that will help prevent occurrence or spread of the disease.
The alert comes in the wake of a recent death caused by the infection in Malappuram district and four cases tested positive in Kozhikode t in the past four months.
District Medical Officer P.K. Mohanan on Wednesday listed the following symptoms: high fever, cough, throat pain, runny nose, body pain, and severe headache.
Symptoms
If anyone shows symptoms of the influenza, they should get diagnosed by a doctor immediately and undergo the required treatment and complete rest for a week. Do not travel unless for treatment, Dr. Mohanan said. Drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration and eating nutritious food is vital.
The virus spreads through the cough and sneeze droplets from an infected person. It can spread through touch also, if the infected persons had coughed or sneezed into their palms and had not washed them.
Shaking hands with such persons or touching materials they had touched heightens the risk of contracting the virus. The public must cultivate the habit of sanitising their hands before touching the nose or mouth, in order to prevent contracting the virus. People should cough or sneeze into a handkerchief.
Pregnant women must be very cautious as they are very vulnerable to contracting the virus. The others falling in the high-risk category are diabetics, young children, the elderly, and persons who have undergone kidney transplantation, because all of them have low immunity. Kidney transplant patients are vulnerable because they are on immuno-suppressants that help prevent the rejection of the transplanted kidney.
The Department of Health Services in the district has made arrangements to treat H1N1 cases in all government hospitals above the level of Taluk hospitals, Dr. Mohanan said.
One death in Malappuram, four cases tested positive in Kozhikode in four months
