Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) The national capital recorded its first swine flu deaths Thursday with a 31-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman succumbing to the influenza A (H1N1) virus, taking the total death toll in the country to 36.
The country reported 159 new cases of influenza A (H1N1), taking the total number of infected people across the country to 2,401.

Samrat Pandya, 31, a resident of Gurgaon, died Thursday morning following two cardiac arrests, four days after he was rushed to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML) here.

“He had been kept on a ventilator and his heart and lungs stopped working,” said N.K. Chaturvedi, the hospital’s medical superintendent.

Renu Gupta also died of cardiac arrests late Wednesday night.

According to the union health ministry, 36 deaths due to the virus have been reported till Thursday.

The deaths have been reported from Pune (15), Bangalore (9), Mumbai (3), Nashik (3), Delhi (2), Ahmedabad (1), Chennai (1), Vadodara (1) and Trivandrum (1).

Samrat Pandya, the RML Hospital chief said, had no travel history or contact with any H1N1 infected patient.

“He came to the hospital Aug 16 with swine flu like symptoms and was quarantined. He was having mild fever, cold, cough, breathlessness and sore throat for four-five days before he came to the hospital,” Chaturvedi said.

“We conducted an ECG and found that Samrat has myocarditis. The virus affected his two key body parts — heart and lungs — and both the organs stopped working. He suffered two cardiac arrests Wednesday evening and his condition deteriorated Thursday morning leading to death,” he said.

Myocarditis is an inflammation of heart muscles and happens when the virus affects a person’s heart.

Samrat’s father, R.S. Pandya, blamed the hospital authorities for his son’s death, but Chaturvedi refuted the charges. “I feel sorry for them,” he added.

“My son died because of negligence by doctors at the RML and they did not cooperate. Till this morning, we had no clue that Samrat had swine flu,” Pandya told reporters outside the hospital.

Giving details, Pandya said his son was first taken to Sanjeevan Hospital in Gurgaon, adjoining Delhi. Doctors at the hospital gave him paracetamol.

When the medicine didn’t improve his condition, the family took him to the Max Hospital in Gurgaon. Here the doctors advised them to take him to a designated government hospital where swine flu treatment was being given.

“People need to be cautious and if they have flu like symptoms, they should immediately visit a designated government health facility. There is no need to panic about it,” Chaturvedi said.

He added that Samrat’s father had thanked the hospital authorities for taking care of him.

At the moment, he disclosed, five patients were undergoing treatment for H1N1 at the RML. All were stable.

“Earlier, we were sending 130-140 samples per day for swine flu tests. But it has come down to 15 samples. The screening of people having flu-like symptoms has also gone down,” he added.

Chaturvedi said that the woman, a resident of Model Town in New Delhi, had returned from Singapore Aug 15 and had developed flu symptoms since then.

“She went to private doctors who asked her to visit a designated government facility. She visited the RML Hospital on Aug 20 in a critical condition. She was gasping and was immediately admitted and put on ventilator,” Chaturvedi told reporters.

He said her sample was sent to the NCDC (National Centre for Disease Control), previously known as the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), and she “tested highly positive for H1N1″.

According to the union health ministry, of the 159 cases only three had travel history.

“About 12,604 people have been tested so far, out of whom 2,401 are positive for Influenza A (H1N1),” a ministry statement issued here said.

Most of the fresh cases were reported from Maharashtra, with Pune topping with 66 swine flu cases, followed by 18 from Mumbai.

Other cases from the state were reported from Nashik (3), Aurangabad (6), Dhule (4), Osmanabad (2), Washim (1), Solapur (1), Beed (1) and Parbhani (1).

Keeping in mind the number of cases and deaths being reported from the state, a central team has been stationed to assist the Maharashtra government in instituting appropriate public health measures.

Fresh cases were also reported from Chennai (12), Chengalpattu (1), Delhi (11), Vishakhapatnam (3), Idukki in Kerala (1), Trivandrum (1), Ernakulam (1), Udaipur (3), Noida (1), Bareilly (1), Rohtak (1), Raipur (1).

In Karnataka, 19 cases were reported - Bangalore (13), Davangere (3), Hubli (2) and Gadag (1).

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), till Aug 13 about 182,166 laboratory confirmed cases of H1N1 were reported. About 1,799 deaths have been reported worldwide.