Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad   

Wet spell: officials fear spurt in swine flu cases

HYDERABAD: Unseasonal showers in the districts and State capital can trigger a surge of fresh cases of viral fevers and could play a role in intensifying swine flu pandemic, health officials on Saturday warned. The dry and cold spell after the rains will give all viral forms including H1N1 congenial conditions to stay longer in the atmosphere and start spreading, many believe.

While the number of swine flu cases continued to decrease, on Saturday authorities confirmed 14 new swine flu cases, a H1N1 death has been reported from Visakhapatnam.

The victim, Venkat Satya Jagdesswara Rao (39), passed away in Visakhapatnam in the early hours of Saturday.

Another woman Veeramma died at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) with suspected swine flu symptoms. Authorities, however, said that the cause of the woman’s death is yet to be ascertained.

The total death toll due to swine flu is now 37 and the number of swine flu positive cases so far is 629.

The Institute of Preventive (IPM) had tested 75 samples of which 14 are positive.

“Public should continue to take precautions because the dry and cold spell, which will follow rains, are ideal for transfer and growth of viral forms,” said State coordinator for swine flu Dr. K. Subhakar.

Till a week back, on an average, the number of cases testing positive for swine flu used to hover around 50 to 55 cases in a day.

However, since then, the average number has come down to 12 H1N1 positive cases a day. “Public should precautionary measures when the dry and cold spell will follow rains,” Dr. Subhakar warned.

Meanwhile, the district health authorities informed that a special health camp would be organise for women prisoners at Chanchalguda jail.

“The medical camp is aimed to provide medical facilities to all kinds of ailments for woman inmates in the prison,” District Medical and Health Officer (DM&HO) Dr. Ch. Jaya Kumari said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Cost of Rajiv Swagruha houses to be reduced
Wet spell: officials fear spurt in swine flu cases
“Lack of coordination damaged ‘Jagan as CM’ campaign”
Krishna, tributaries in spate
Festival advance for RTC contract staff
Bank loans sought for tenant farmers
Special counselling for engineering aspirants
Dancer’s ode to the Mahatma
Dangling cables on roads to be cut
Rally held to focus on violence against women
Symposium on RapidArc
Private bus services to Kurnool suspended
2 murdered in city, suburbs
Portal on properties of temples launched
Expressway to open before Deepavali
Scribes given Arogyasri cards
Hyderabad Today

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu