Fivefold rise in swine flu cases, yet Health Dept says ‘situation normal’

Though State Health Department officials claim that the disease is under control, the rise is significantly higher compared to last year when State had only 40 cases till February 2018, as per the data provided by the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme of the National Centre for Disease Control.

Across the country, swine flu has killed 448 people and 14,803 cases have been recorded (till February 24) with major outbreaks reported in several States including Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat. 

Among the southern States, there were widespread cases reported in Telangana (645 cases recorded, 9 deaths) and Karnataka (554 cases). State Health Department officials said people travelling from these States are the high-risk groups and may carry the infection with them. “We are not witnessing any epidemic pattern in the State. There has been only one case of death due to swine flu. It was reported in Coimbatore in January this year,” said director of public health, Dr K Kolandaisamy.

Senior State Health Department officials said that the influenza incidence usually increase every year as summer sets in, while epidemic outbreaks occur during monsoon. The number of cases increased between August-October last year.

Maintaining that “only two-three cases” were being reported every day, Kolandaisamy said: “In order to intensify the preventive measures against swine flu, we have started spraying disinfectants in all the government hospitals. In the event of an outbreak, the department is stocked well with vaccines and medications required to tackle it,” the official added.

Earlier this year, World Health Organisation (WHO) had highlighted the 10 threats to global health that would demand attention from WHO and health partners in 2019. It had mentioned that the world would face another influenza pandemic. “The only thing we don’t know is when it will hit and how severe it will be. Global defences are only as effective as the weakest link in any country’s health emergency preparedness and response system,” the organisation had said in its message.

The number of swine flu cases had seen a spike towards the end of last year, taking the total number of cases to 2,812. Though this was lesser than the number from 2017 (3,315 cases reported), the death toll at 43 was more than double as that of 2017 (17), and the highest since the disease assumed serious proportions in the State.