H1N1 claims 75 lives in Maharashtra this October; 38 on life support

PUNE: As many as 75 people succumbed to swine flu in the state in October alone, taking Maharashtra’s H1N1 death count to 244 till October 18 this year.

Of the 244 casualties, the maximum number of deaths occurred in the last two months. The latest state health report revealed that Nashik accounted for most with 76 deaths, followed by Pune city (64) and Pimpri Chinchwad (33).
Moreover, the condition of 38 patients is currently critical and they have been put on ventilator support at different hospitals across the state. Of them, 29 patients are in Pune city.
The H1N1 virus hit the state harder in 2017 than the previous year. A total of 777 people had died of swine flu in Maharashtra in 2017 — 148 of them in Pune city. Since the 2009 swine flu pandemic, 2015 was the worst year for Maharashtra, when the virus had claimed 905 lives.
“Many who succumb to swine flu also suffer from other associated illnesses or co-morbid conditions,” said Sanjeev Kamble, the director of the state health department. We have asked medical practitioners to administer oseltamivir to patients with co-morbid conditions within 24 hours,” said a state health official.
Experts attributed the spike in swine flu cases to extended rainfall, fluctuations in day and night temperatures and co-circulation of other influenzas.
The virus activity attained two distinct peaks in 2017. Scientists at the Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) said the virus’ transmission was at an all-time high first during summer (March/April) and then again during monsoon (August/September).
Since 2009, the California strain of the virus had been doing the rounds in India. However, since January 2018, scientists have seen only the Michigan strain of the virus. Experts said the new strain could be behind the rise in cases. This is yet to be proven scientifically.
State surveillance officer Pradip Awate said, “As per the NIV scientists, the molecular markers of virulence do not indicate that the Michigan strain is more virulent than the California strain. But since the Michigan strain is a new strain, the existing herd immunity in the community is of no use against it.”