Panvel woman is swine flu's latest victim; Mumbai toll now 14

A 58-year-old Panvel resident succumbed to swine flu in Bombay Hospital on Tuesday, taking the city's toll to 14.

The BMC health department said the woman had hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. "She was transferred from a private hospital in Panvel to Bombay Hospital on February 14. She had heart disease, COPD and obesity, along with H1N1," said Dr Mangala Gomare, epidemiology cell in-charge at BMC.

In the last two days, 63 Mumbaikars have tested positive for the virus. While 45 of them are taking treatment from OPD, 18 have been hospitalised. "All the H1N1 patients are stable," said Gomare.

Following state health ministry's instructions, BMC is conducting an audit of all swine flu deaths in the city to understand the disease pattern.

"We have prepared a proforma and sent it to the hospitals where the deaths have happened, so that we get detailed case reports of these patients," said Gomare.

She added that after the audit they will be able to analyse the disease pattern and mortality with a perspective. "In the audit, we will find out whether there were co-morbid conditions, what investigations were done, what treatment was given to the patient, etc, and analyse the death cases accordingly. Reports will be sent to the state health ministry," said Gomare.