Swine flu claims a life in State

As per the recent data given by Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), one death has been reported due to swine flu in Coimbatore in January. A three-year-old male child from Coimbatore was infected with swine flu and died in the last week of January. The State Health Department officials say that the child was suffering from co-morbid health condition with low immunity that led to the death of the child. Health officials said that the number of swine flu cases recorded in TN are considerably higher than February 2 last year when there were only 77 cases and one death recorded in the State. In 2018, the number of cases of swine flu till February were only about 40 and one death was recorded in 2018. In 2019, more than 1,038 cases were reported and about four deaths were recorded throughout the State. However, State Health Department officials said that the number of cases and deaths are reducing over the years and the total number of cases in a year are comparatively lower than the previous years. In south India, TN records highest number of swine flu cases so far. Telangana records 74 cases and two deaths, while Karnataka and Kerala have recorded 74 cases and 9 cases respectively. AP has recorded about 14 cases and two deaths due to swine flu.

“TN recorded a total of 3,315 cases and 17 deaths in 2017, but there were about 2,812 cases in 2018 and 43 deaths due to outbreak in several districts. We have increased the surveillance and monitoring of swine flu cases. The sudden spurt can be because of the seasonal variations,” said Public Health Director Dr K Kolandaisamy.