Dreaded killer H1N1 virus strikes again

The dreaded killer H1N1 virus has struck again claiming 15 lives in the state of Maharashtra. Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh too registered a number of incidents of the disease. The western and southern region of the country have become the epicentre of the onslaught of the disease on return.

As far as Maharashtra is concerned, Pune has witnessed highest incidents of H1N1 cases. The city registered 30% suspected cases as H1N1 positive during the first week of March though the level is said to have come down to about 10% now.

The disease, which many believed had been capped, has come back to India and the US this year. Two H1N1 influenza-associated paediatric deaths were also reported in US as on mid March 2012.

According to the recent health ministry report, a total of 689 cases of H1N1 influenza have been reported for the period between March 1, 2012 and April 9, 2012. Maharashtra reported the highest number of cases- 392. It recorded 15 deaths to the dreaded virus followed by Rajasthan which reported 84 cases and nine deaths. Andhra Pradesh reported 66 cases and six deaths respectively.

The spread of the virus has been pan-India with states like Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Gujarat reporting 28, six and five cases, respectively. Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh reported death of one person each. Delhi did not report any loss of life due to H1N1 this year while Gujarat reported two deaths.

Commenting on the resurgence of the virus, Dr SP Byotra, chairperson medicine at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said, "Virus remain in the atmosphere and they become active during certain seasons and affect humans. It is difficult to comment from where the infection has resurged back as people do travel from one place to another and come in contact with various kinds of people who might have this infection and since it is contagious it spreads rapidly."

A health official at Naidu Hospital, Pune, who did not wish to be named, said, "Swine flu is a kind of influenza. For the last three years a new virus has come up which gets mutated very fast and it undergoes rapid genetic changes."

"People do die because of flu every year, the only difference was that it did not get labelled and now since people are dying due to this H1N1, it's getting labelled. It happens that whenever a new virus comes up, it causes more deaths than expected but there is no need to get panic. The situation can get alarming if young healthy adult dies. As of now the situation is under control," added the health official from Naidu Hospital.

"There is no need to panic at the present situation. Few necessary steps like isolating the person suffering from H1N1 influenza should be done in order to avoid the spread of the killer virus," added Byotra at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

A look back at the rise of this outbreak shows that infection with this new influenza A virus (then referred to as 'swine origin influenza A virus') was first detected in a 10-year-old patient in California on April 15, 2009, who was tested for influenza as part of a clinical study. H1N1 influenza was also reported in Mexico.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that at least one million cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza had occurred in the United States. In 2010, Sri Lanka had reported a marked increase in the number of both mild and severe cases related to H1N1 (2009) virus, including 22 deaths.

An outbreak of influenza A (H1N1) 2009 was reported in April 2011 in the northern border state of Chihuahua in Mexico associated with a number deaths.

A peak in transmission of influenza A (H1N1) was also seen early in the year 2011 occurring in the period from January to March primarily in south and south East Asian countries like Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam (January peak); southern China and Hong Kong.