'Come forward voluntarily to report H1N1 case'

AHMEDABAD: There are ample reasons for health authorities to be worried about in winter, particularly ahead of Navratri festivities. This is because after the initial phase of swine flu which was being brought in by expatriates and NRGs, the virus has now firmly established itself in local community clusters in the city -more so in middle class and congested lower-middle class localities.A growing number of positive cases reported daily are of those who have come in contact with initial lot of swine flu patients. On Saturday, health authorities reported death of a 30-year-old positive woman belonging to lower-income community of Rabarivaas in Ghatlodia.
Today, there are more than 490 people in the city who have come in direct contact with swine flu patients. Most cases that have turned positive are these contacts. For instance, of the 65-odd cases last surveyed, 22 contracted swine flu from relatives while 15-odd swine flu cases had come voluntarily to the hospitals for checkups.
"Airport and railway station screening was not of much use initially as most visitors screened did not have fever and fell within the incubation period of seven days. These cases did not get detected. The process mostly depended on self-reporting of passengers. But, it was too late by the time the infected came in contact with their relatives. Today, we believe that suspected cases should volunteer to remain in isolation," believes a senior health official in the epidemiology department.
In Andhra Pradesh, which reported the maximum number of swine flu cases at one point, the virus did not enter the community. The reason being that patients voluntarily came forward to stay in isolation facilities. In cities like Pune, this attitude was absent and resulted in a large trail of swine flu positive patients.
Another major reason for the spread of swine flu, according to health authorities, is that initially the state health department, in order to prevent panic made H1N1 virus look benign like any other ordinary virus. Though well intentioned, this tuned out to be counter productive. Even patients who showed initial symptoms were sent back.
"Patients initially had been categorized as cases of mild fever, cough, with high fever and severe flu especially those having acute respiratory distress syndrome. Only those with severe symptoms of pneumonia were tested. Others were sent back only to come back with serious swine flu symptoms. To check all these lapses, a surveillance system needs to be set up to counter further spread of infection," adds a state health department official.