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3-year-old becomes youngest in Mumbai to die of swine flu

A three-year-old boy from Bhayander became the city's youngest victim of swine flu, which has claimed 125 lives in the state so far this year.

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As per figures, one-fourth of the city’s swine flu cases are children
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A three-year-old boy from Bhayander became the city's youngest victim of swine flu, which has claimed 125 lives in the state so far this year.

According to BMC health officials, the child was shifted to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital on February 3, and succumbed late on Thursday evening. He is the seventeenth swine flu death in the city.

"He died of respiratory failure. He had acute respiratory distress syndrome and bilateral pneumonia complications related to swine flu," said Dr Mangala Gomare, in-charge of BMC's epidemiology cell.

While most of swine flu patients are stable and government health officials have said there is no need to panic, doctors say that people falling in the high-risk category should avoid going to crowded places and public gathering as chances of their catching infection are very high.

So far, almost all swine flu deaths in the metropolis came from the high-risk category, and were from the outskirts of the city, except one.

Maharashtra is among the top five states in the country that is seeing the highest number of swine flu deaths.

Seeing the rise in the cases, especially in children, city schools have started educating their students and spreading awareness on hygiene.

If the figures are to be believed, around one-fourth of the flu cases in the city are children.

Dr Mukesh Sanklecha, paediatrician at Bombay Hospital, said, "A few instructions like avoid taking children to crowded places like mall, birthday party etc, following cough and hand hygiene etc are given to the parents. We are asking parents of children who have flu to not send them to schools."

Dos and don'ts
Cover mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze
Wash your hands with soap or use sanitiser
Avoid touching your nose, eyes and mouth
Drink plenty of water and have nutritious food
Have 8 hours of sleep
Avoid handshakes/contact greetings
Don't spit in open
Avoid self-medication

Swine flu is an air-borne viral infection that is highly contagious
- H1N1 is harboured in pigs and spreads to human beings through animal-human being interaction
- One in four persons infected with H1N1 virus dies of complications
- It mimics normal flu symptoms, with the patient beginning to have dry cough, fever, headache and throat irritation
- Subsequently, the symptoms may worsen to cause breathlessness
- It spreads among humans via air. When an infected person sneezes or coughs, micro droplets are liberated in the environment which may infect persons who come in contact with them

BMC's helpline number to counsel citizens on swine flu: 022-24114000

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