In middle of summer, H1N1 rears its head, claims one life

MUMBAI: After lying dormant for nearly a month, the H1N1 virus claimed the life of a 25-year-old woman from Mumbra, taking the swine flu death count in city hospitals to 43. The influenza virus that caused havoc between January and March, killing 513 people in the state and affecting over 5,000, had weakened as mercury levels started rising in mid-April.
Doctors were, all along, predicting a return of the virus after monsoon when temperatures would go down again.Though one death may not mean a full-fledged return of the virus but experts have been caught unawares by the mid-summer death, when not too many cases are being reported.
The deceased was admitted to a local hospital with pneumonitis. She was initially being treated at a local hospital and later shifted to Fortis Hospital before being brought to the BMC-run Kasturba Hospital a week ago. She was diagnosed with H1N1 during the course of treatment at the civic hospital.
Executive health officer Dr Padmaja Keskar said that the patient’s condition started deteriorating and she passed away late on Monday. “The patient was shifted to Kasturba Hospital after her condition did not improve. She passed away after developing severe breathing difficulty,” she added. The death, however, will not be added to the city’s death toll as the deceased was from Mumbra. The deceased, however, did not have any co-morbid conditions, said doctors.
Keskar said it was a one-off case as hardly any fresh H1N1 cases were reported in the last one month. The virus started circulating from February and peaked in March, when over 1,000 cases were reported.
General physician Dr Shahid Bharmare, who consults with Kohinoor Hospital in Kurla, said, “We are not seeing any H1N1 case now,” he said. But doctors, in anticipation of the virus’ resurgence during monsoon, have recommended vaccination for elderly, pregnant women and those with underlying ailments.