A one-year-old boy’s death at Sion Hospital early on Sunday took the city’s swine flu toll to three since the beginning of this month. The child, a Dharavi resident, was admitted to the hospital on
June 17. He had high fever and was suffering from breathlessness.
Dr Guirish Ambe, executive health officer of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), said that the child had been running a fever from June 12. “He was brought to Sion Hospital late evening on June 17, after he started suffering from breathlessness. His swabs were taken immediately, and he was put on Tamiflu,” he said.
The reports that came in on Saturday confirmed that the child was H1N1 positive. The doctors tried their best, but the boy died at 2am on Sunday, Ambe added.
Daksha Shah, head of the epidemiology cell of the BMC, said that the victim’s family members had been put on Chemoprophylaxis to prevent the spread of the infection. “Two more people in the city tested positive on Monday. Both are stable,” Shah said.
Last Wednesday, a 52-year-old woman from Bhayander succumbed to swine flu at the Hinduja Hospital, Mahim. Her pregnant daughter-in-law also tested positive, and
has been admitted to Kasturba Hospital.
Two more pregnant women are undergoing treatment for swine flu at KEM Hospital, Parel. One is seven months’ pregnant. The other one is expected to deliver any time now.
More than 40 people have tested positive for swine flu in June. The BMC-run Kasturba Hospital has eight patients in its isolation ward. Ambe said, “A few cases have come up, and we have provided immediate treatment. There is no need for people to panic.”
He added that high-risk patients, such as pregnant women and people with heart ailments, need to be extra cautious. They should either avoid crowded places, or should use masks whenever they go out.
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