Hyderabad: Despite the increase in temperature, patients testing positive for swine flu continue to be high. Every day there are 15 to 20 people testing positive for swine flu and that is becoming a cause for concern.
A senior health official in the Health Department explained, “When the epidemic was at its peak in 2015, there were swine flu cases recorded in March, April and May.
During these three months there were a total of 20 cases recorded, which meant that the virus was active even during the summer months. The same trend continued in the year 2016, but the numbers were far less.
In 2017, cases of swine flu increased in the month of January and continued to be the same in February. This means that the virus will not die due to the heat and has learnt to survive in the Indian environment and has adapted to the climate.”
For this reason, the surveillance wing of the Health Department does not anticipate a major drop in the number of swine flu cases immediately in February or March.
Dr. Sudarshan Reddy, senior paediatrician, explained, “While day time temperatures have increased, the nights are relatively cool. Cold weather with less humidity allows the virus to survive. Its ability to strike in the summer months is a matter of research and the cycle of three years will be studied to understand how it is striking the immune-compromised during this period.”
Health officials state that due to increased awareness levels the number of samples that are coming every day to the Institute of Preventive Medicine range from 100 to 150.
The number of positive cases is between 10 to 20 cases and will continue to be so till mid-March. With 20 deaths in Telangana, the health officials are studying the pattern of viral load in the various cases reported to the government.
A senior government doctor explained, “The patients who have come with viral load from 95 to 98 per cent in the blood have developed acute respiratory distress leading to complications and lung failure. But those who have come with viral load from 90 to 95 per cent have recovered after medication, rest and isolation and survived. These two different groups in the present cycle are showing that its ability to debilitate a human body continues to be high and there have to be proper measures taken to fight the disease.”
