A new outbreak is making its rounds and has killed at least 75 people in India. The new outbreak of swine flu has released its wrath in the past six weeks, health officials announced. On Thursday, 43 people including four doctors tested positive for swine flu or H1N1.
Health officials said that most of the fatalities were reported from South Teangana and North Rajasthan. Now, health experts are looking into the outbreak and its cause. Many say that the extreme cold temperatures this year are the culprits.
"Samples of 204 patients were tested out of which 43 tested positive for H1N1 virus," said Dr. Sharma, director of health services, Delhi government as reported by the India Express. Also, those infected were three doctors and an intern who are working in Lok Nayak Hospital.
H1N1 or swine flu was first seen in Mexico in 2009 and caused a worldwide pandemic. During that time, Flu.gov reported that it killed 981 Indians. The following year, it took 1,763 lives. The trend fell in 2011 with only 75 deaths but grew drastically in 2012 and 2013 with 405 and 692 deaths respectively.
H1N1 is a flu virus and the symptoms are that of typical seasonal flu symptoms. Getting the H1N1 flu vaccine is the best way to prevent contracting the virus. As of Wednesday, 50 people were reported killed in Telangana and Rajasthan while 15 were killed in Gujarat. Meanwhile, Delhi reported five deaths while Haryana has seven deaths.
According to health officials, they had advised health care workers who got sick of the flu to stay at home and get medical treatment. Due to the health care workers who tested positive for the disease, they were granted five days leave for their treatment.
Many are blaming this year's severe winter to the outbreak of H1N1. "The number of cases this year is slightly more than the last. One of the reasons could be that the traditionally tropical state has experienced its coldest winter in two decades with temperatures dipping to single digits," Narendranath, chief of the state-run Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences told the BBC News.
The flu is dangerous to vulnerable groups including pregnant women, children under five years old, older adults and those with underlying diseases such as heart disease, asthma, and immunosuppressive illnesses.
