Maharashtra: Swine flu claims 8 lives in January, 66 new cases detected

As per the state government health department, around 8 people have died in Maharashtra due to swine flu in January this year. Due to change in climate, more people are suffering from swine flu in the month of January.

Between January 1 and 24, besides the death of eight patients, at least one lakh seventy-seven thousand people from across the state have been screened for swine flu, out of which around 1,764 patients were diagnosed with swine flu-like illness and 66 patients with swine flu disease has been identified.

The state government's health department claims that the change in climate, rainfall in few regions is one of the major reason to find an increase in the number of cases and deaths due to swine flu in the month of January. There might be further increased in the number of patients to be diagnosed with the disease.

"The number of patients diagnosed with swine flu are usually found in the month of July to September during the monsoon and February to March. It is due to change in weather because of which so many cases are found in January," said an official.

The state government will be taking help from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) private practitioner doctors, to reach out to people staying in rural parts of the state to set up camps.

Swine flu is caused by the H1N1 virus. Its symptoms include fever, cough, body ache, nasal secretions, headache, fatigue, loose motions, and weakness.

According to the officials, there are no different precautionary measures taken to prevent H1N1. High-risk group people including pregnant women, senior citizens, kidney ailment and others who have a little weak immune system are given heavy vaccination.

As per the epidemiology cell of BMC, while in the year 2017 there were 995 cases and 18 deaths, in the year 2016 there were only three cases. In 2015, there were 3,028 cases and 58 deaths in the city.

SCARY FIGURES

• Between January 1 and 24, at least 1,70,000 people from across the state have been screened for swine flu
   
• Out of the 1,70,000, around 1764 patients were diagnosed with swine flu-like illness 
   
• Health department claims that the change in climate is one of the major reason behind the increase in the number of swine flu cases and deaths in January 
   
• Health officials have warned that the number of cases might increase further