Swine flu today claimed the lives of a four-year-old boy in Chennai and a 35-year-old ayurvedic doctor in Pune, taking the countrywide toll due to the deadly viral infection to six.
The boy, B Sanjay, who was admitted to a private hospital with kidney and liver-related complications and had tested positive for swine flu, died this morning, health officials said in Chennai.
The boy had also been suffering from asthma. This is the first case of flu-related death in Tamil Nadu. 'The boy was in a very critical condition. He had been suffering from asthma and he had been taken from one hospital to another for various complications.
Ultimately he landed up in this hospital for a kidney-related problem...and they found the boy testing positive (for swine flu),' Tamil Nadu Health Secretary V K Subburaj said.
The boy, who was on a ventilator, died following multi- organ failure, S Ilango, Director of Public Health, said. In Pune, the medic, Babasahib Mane, died in the Sassoon Hospital this morning, becoming the third person in the worst-hit Maharashtra city to succumb to swine flu, a senior
health official said.
Mane was ailing for sometime and blood had been found in his sputum in the last couple of days, he said. With the two deaths today, the swine flu toll in the country has climbed to eight.
Pune had reported India's first swine flu death on August three with 14-year-old Reeda Sheikh succumbing to the disease. On Saturday, 53-year-old Fahmida Panwala from Mumbai and 42-year-old teacher Sanjay Tukaram Kokre from Pune had died of swine flu. Pravin Patel, a 43-year-old NRI, died in Ahmedabad on Monday.
A total of 82 fresh cases were reported from across the country yesterday, taking the total number of positive cases to 864. With the number of cases rising rapidly, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped in and reviewed the situation with Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday.
Singh asked Azad to ensure that his Ministry co-ordinates with state governments on efforts to contain the spread of the infection and set up a panel of experts to correctly disseminate information on H1N1 virus.
Azad has asked people having flu symptoms to take precautions and stay away from public places till their status of infection was clear.
He said three companies were working to develop a swine flu vaccine in the country. 'WHO has provided virus seed to several countries including India. If another other country develops the vaccine before us, we will adopt it,' he said.
13-year-old girl dies
Swine flu claimed yet another life of a 13-year-old girl here today, raising the total number of victims across the country to eight.
Shruti Gawade, a student of Ahilyadevi school, became the sixth victim of the H1N1 virus in the state. Five of them died in Pune itself.
Shruti, a resident of Narayan Peth area, had been kept on ventilator since August 7 when she was brought here after being referred from a private hospital in critical condition, said Dr Pandurang Pawar, Medical Superintendent of Sasoon hospital.
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