Swine Flu Treatment Hindered Due to Delayed Reports

The total number of swine flu positive cases in Telangana, India has shot up to 440 in January. 26 persons have lost their lives due to swine flu in Telangana so far, between December and January.

52 fresh cases of swine flu have tested positive out of 116 samples tested by health authorities on Monday night.

Two more persons have died of swine flu in the last 48 hours in Hyderabad. While a 40-year-old man from Nellore district died at Gandhi Hospital on Sunday evening, a 55-year-old man from Yakutpura died at a private hospital on Saturday.

The death of the person from Nellore district is the second swine flu fatality in Andhra Pradesh. According to health officials, wife of the 55-year-old deceased from Yakutpura also has symptoms of swine flu and is undergoing treatment.

New health minister C. Laxma Reddy visited Gandhi Hospital and interacted with the patients in the swine flu ward. The minister was upset with the unhygienic conditions in the toilets and also the cleanliness aspect in the wards.

According to a doctor, "He wanted the hospital to maintain high standards of cleanliness like those in corporate hospitals."

Large number of private hospital doctors have pointed out that there is a delay from the Instituite of Preventive Medicine (IPM), which is a big hindrance for them to start swine flu treatment.

A senior health officer said that he was not given the H1N1 treatment at all. Either the blood samples were taken late or the Institute of Preventive Medicine had not tested the sample on the day it was sent.

Of late, there have been complaints that due to the increasing number of samples coming to IPM both in the morning and evening, some samples are being left out and their testing is being done after a day.

Senior doctors, who have handled swine flu patients earlier, however, pointed out that Tamiflu tablets are usually given even before the patients are tested positive.

"If cold, cough and fever persists for over 48 hours, then WHO guidelines advice doctors to immediately put them on Tamiflu. There is no need to wait for diagnostic results," says swine flu expert Dr. K. Subhakar.

A senior air force officer from Air Force Academy, and a twenty-year-old baby who tested positive are undergoing treatment and are stable.

Source: Medindia