The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Be prepared for second wave of A(H1N1), warns health expert

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Friday, Nov 27, 2009
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Be prepared for second wave of A(H1N1), warns health expert

Staff Reporter

‘State must be more responsive to needs of critical patients’

— Photo: AP

Coping with the times: Including awareness on A(H1N1) and hygiene education in school and college syllabi are ways of tackling the pandemic, says former UNICEF official.

Bangalore: The panic over swine flu may have subsided but it is perhaps too early to conclude that the pandemic is on the wane. Statistics released by the State Health and Family Welfare Department on a day-to-day basis clearly indicate that the disease seems to be reverting, with incidence of new cases. This makes it all the more essential for the health authorities to be more responsive to the emerging needs of critical A(H1N1) patients, said M. Seenappa, former UNICEF Programme Officer, on Thursday.

Addressing presspersons here, Dr. Seenappa, who is a visiting Immunology Professor in Bangalore University, said there is a need to integrate awareness on A(H1N1) and hygiene education in school and college syllabi. This is essential as the second wave of A(H1N1) has started with the advent of the cold season from November 1, he said.

“While Delhi and Maharashtra continue to take the brunt, an increased spread of the disease is already evident in Kerala, Harayana and Rajasthan. Karnataka seems to be reverting to increased new cases every day. What is causing concern in Karnataka is of the 1,444 positive cases detected till October 31 (in the first wave), 117 deaths were reported. While in Delhi only 16 persons died of the 3,438 positive cases,” Dr. Seenappa said.

“Why could more lives not be saved in Karnataka remains to be explained. The lesson is that Karnataka needs to be more responsive to the emerging needs of critical A(H1N1) patients. Clinical diagnosis and timely critical care need to improve,” he explained. Panic over the spread of the disease had resurfaced on Wednesday when 35 students from Oxford Nursing College had lined up for screening at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) after one of their classmates had tested positive. Two deaths were also reported due to the virus last week in RGICD taking Karnataka’s A(H1N1) death toll to 120.

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