A teenager died of H1N1 influenza at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura on Tuesday taking the toll of people who died due to Swine flu to 22.
Official sources said that a 17-year-old patient tested positive for H1N1 influenza last week and was also suffering from sepsis. With the fresh death, the toll due to H1N1 influenza in Kashmir has risen to 22 this season.
In last two months 121 cases including six doctors treating patients were admitted in SKIMS with Swine Flu symptoms. Of them 90 have been discharged after their recovery. At least 10 patients who have been tested positive for H1N1 influenza are undergoing treatment at the institute— which is the lone hospital treating such patients in the Valley.
SKIMS doctors however claim that most of the patients did not die of H1N1 influenza but due to other ailments.
“Influenza affects mostly those patients who are ill. We have sufficient supplies including vaccines, masks and Tamiflu tablets,” said doctors.
However, a senior doctor at SKIMS said that the Institute was not ready for the seasonal flu which could claim more lives. “We have received orders from the administration and have been asked not to speak over swine flu,” he however said.
As per Ministry for Health and Family Welfare which maintains the records of Swine flu cases across India under its Integrated Diseases Surveillance Programme (IDSP) the disease broke out in 2010 for the first time in J&K and claimed two lives in Jammu.
Last year two cases of swine flu were reported, as per the IDSP, though no death occurred. The Health Department, in 2015, detected 495 patients having the H1N1 virus of which 20 died of it. In 2013, two people died among 76 cases detected with H1N1 positive, whereas in 2014 no such death or cases were registered.
The year 2011 witnessed one death due to the Swine flu in JK. In the third week of November this year SKIMS authorities predicted a rise in the cases due to prevailing cold weather condition in the Valley. Seven years ago World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that the H1N1 influenza virus has moved into the post-pandemic period.
17 Year old teenager died of H1N1 influenza taking Swine Flu deaths toll to 22
