Darmashkian
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- Dec 19, 2012
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HYDERABAD: With one-third of all swine flu samples examined by the Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) here in January having tested positive, the Telangana government held an urgent cabinet meeting on Wednesday to deliberate on measures to control the raging H1N1 virus.
A 26-year-old woman died early in the day at Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad, taking the toll in Telangana to 11 this month. Thirteen new cases were also reported on Wednesday.
Of the 687 samples examined by the IPM, 34.06% tested positive. Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao spent the entire day holding meetings with health and hospital officials to prepare for the visit of a Union health ministry team on Thursday.
"It's a complex situation as one-third of samples testing positive could lead to cross-infection if preventive measures are not taken immediately to identify and isolate victims suffering from swine flu for treatment," said Dr Raghupathy Anchala of the department of epidemiology, Indian Institute of Public Health.
While the dip in temperature in January is being singled out as the reason behind the surge in H1N1 cases, health experts believe the 'Sankranti effect' has played a big role. "Even a few infected persons travelling with lakhs of people to their hometowns in overcrowded public transport vehicles could have resulted in the sudden spurt as many got exposed to droplet infection or infected object," said Dr H Guru Prasad, a consultant at Yashoda Hospitals.
After Sankranti, an alarmed Andhra Pradesh government had swung into action and set up separate swine flu wards in all government hospitals and five H1N1 screening centres in three north-coastal districts in view of the outbreak in Telangana.
So far 11 cases have been detected in AP in January, with one death. But with minimum temperatures hovering around 20 degrees Celsius in most AP districts, authorities said there was no cause for concern since only cold conditions help the virus to survive.
But the disease surveillance system is below par in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy, being manned by a team of only a dozen personnel.
"We've been asking for the constitution of special teams for surveillance but our demand has fallen on deaf ears," a city official said. "How do you expect us to track positive patients when 50 cases were reported from several places in the city on a single day (January 20) alone?"
Several experts who had witnessed the 2009-10 H1N1 pandemic in the city blamed the government for not issuing guidelines on who should be hospitalized and in which nodal hospitals in the city. "There's chaos this time partly because during the 2009-10 season, all swine flu patients were categorized into A, B or C category depending on the severity of their condition," said a government official.
Independent experts have advised the government to concentrate on prevention programmes in schools with instructions on dos and don'ts since even one infected child can spread the H1N1 virus.
"Hand hygiene and cough etiquette need to be taught to children," said Dr A K Prasad, chairman of the Delhi-based Influenza Foundation of India, who is in the city. A former head of medical microbiology at Delhi University, Dr Prasad said the state health administration should concentrate mostly on 'high-risk areas'
Worse is the perceived failure of the directorate of public health, Telangana, in proper management of the situation, said sources. For instance, the Telangana health department has completely sidelined Dr K Subhakar, state swine flu coordinator for the two states, as he has never been asked to be part of any official review meetings by Telangana health department for unknown reasons.
Swine flu scare sweeps Telangana - The Times of India
I would like to request everyone from AP & Telangana (Especially Hyderabad) & those who will visit Hyderabad to please be careful & take proper care of yourself!!!! Don't take this outbreak lightly!!!
Please maintain proper health & hygeine & if you or any of your relatives show symptoms... Don't hesitate to go to the hospital !!!!
@wolfschanzze @The_Showstopper @jbgt90 @itachiii @Srinivas @indushek -Be careful guys!!
A 26-year-old woman died early in the day at Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad, taking the toll in Telangana to 11 this month. Thirteen new cases were also reported on Wednesday.
Of the 687 samples examined by the IPM, 34.06% tested positive. Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao spent the entire day holding meetings with health and hospital officials to prepare for the visit of a Union health ministry team on Thursday.
"It's a complex situation as one-third of samples testing positive could lead to cross-infection if preventive measures are not taken immediately to identify and isolate victims suffering from swine flu for treatment," said Dr Raghupathy Anchala of the department of epidemiology, Indian Institute of Public Health.
While the dip in temperature in January is being singled out as the reason behind the surge in H1N1 cases, health experts believe the 'Sankranti effect' has played a big role. "Even a few infected persons travelling with lakhs of people to their hometowns in overcrowded public transport vehicles could have resulted in the sudden spurt as many got exposed to droplet infection or infected object," said Dr H Guru Prasad, a consultant at Yashoda Hospitals.
After Sankranti, an alarmed Andhra Pradesh government had swung into action and set up separate swine flu wards in all government hospitals and five H1N1 screening centres in three north-coastal districts in view of the outbreak in Telangana.
So far 11 cases have been detected in AP in January, with one death. But with minimum temperatures hovering around 20 degrees Celsius in most AP districts, authorities said there was no cause for concern since only cold conditions help the virus to survive.
But the disease surveillance system is below par in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy, being manned by a team of only a dozen personnel.
"We've been asking for the constitution of special teams for surveillance but our demand has fallen on deaf ears," a city official said. "How do you expect us to track positive patients when 50 cases were reported from several places in the city on a single day (January 20) alone?"
Several experts who had witnessed the 2009-10 H1N1 pandemic in the city blamed the government for not issuing guidelines on who should be hospitalized and in which nodal hospitals in the city. "There's chaos this time partly because during the 2009-10 season, all swine flu patients were categorized into A, B or C category depending on the severity of their condition," said a government official.
Independent experts have advised the government to concentrate on prevention programmes in schools with instructions on dos and don'ts since even one infected child can spread the H1N1 virus.
"Hand hygiene and cough etiquette need to be taught to children," said Dr A K Prasad, chairman of the Delhi-based Influenza Foundation of India, who is in the city. A former head of medical microbiology at Delhi University, Dr Prasad said the state health administration should concentrate mostly on 'high-risk areas'
Worse is the perceived failure of the directorate of public health, Telangana, in proper management of the situation, said sources. For instance, the Telangana health department has completely sidelined Dr K Subhakar, state swine flu coordinator for the two states, as he has never been asked to be part of any official review meetings by Telangana health department for unknown reasons.
Swine flu scare sweeps Telangana - The Times of India
I would like to request everyone from AP & Telangana (Especially Hyderabad) & those who will visit Hyderabad to please be careful & take proper care of yourself!!!! Don't take this outbreak lightly!!!
Please maintain proper health & hygeine & if you or any of your relatives show symptoms... Don't hesitate to go to the hospital !!!!
@wolfschanzze @The_Showstopper @jbgt90 @itachiii @Srinivas @indushek -Be careful guys!!
