Swine flu claims 2nd victim in TN, toll touches 50
NEW DELHI: Swine flu claimed its second victim in Tamil Nadu when a man, who had fled quarantine from a Chennai hospital, collapsed after
readmission, raising the countrywide toll to 50 on Friday.
Two deaths each were reported from worst-hit Pune and Karnataka on Friday and one person each succumbed to the H1N1 virus in Nagpur and Latur in Maharashtra. According to Union health ministry, the number of confirmed H1N1 cases has now gone up to 2,539 with 159 fresh cases being reported on Friday.
Chhattisgarh reported its first H1N1 casualty. Y S Rao of CRPF had died on August 14 at a hospital in Bilaspur. His swab test confirmed on Thursday that he was suffering from the virus infection, state health director Pramod Singh said. Rao had gone to Mumbai for official work and fell ill after returning to Bilaspur.
The Chennai victim was identified as Francis Xavier, a construction worker. He was first taken to the government Hospital on August 13 with fever, cough and mild breathing problem
.
"He was given two doses of Tamiflu the same day and another dose the next morning. His throat swab was sent at the King Institute of Preventive Medicine. Before we could give him the next dose, he went missing," said hospital dean Dr J Mohanasundram.
The day after, the hospital received a positive H1N1 report. It took five days for the health workers to trace the patient, who had by then got admitted to a private hospital. When he was brought back to the government hospital, his condition had deteriorated. He died within 24 hours of admission. Earlier, a seven-year-old Chennai student infected with the virus had died of multi-organ failure in a private hospital.
The number of H1N1 positive cases in Tamil Nadu rose to 170 on Friday.In Pune, two more persons succumbed to H1N1. Franky Lanlangia, 25, collapsed in a private hospital at Chinchwad near Pune.
A delayed confirmation of a test result of another man, Mahesh Pai, added to the list of flu victims, health department said. Pai died in a private hospital on August 16. The city reported 62 more positive cases on Friday.
Maharashtra accounts for the maximum 27 deaths followed by Karnataka, 12. Five deaths have taken place in Gujarat, two each in Delhi, Tamil Nadu and one each in Kerala and Chhattisgarh.
In Karnataka, a woman Gayathri (23) collapsed at the Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital (KIMS) Bangalore on Friday. KIMS medical officer Dr J Ramachandra said that due to dengue, her platelet count had considerably fallen and suspecting H1N1 flu, she had been given Tamiflu. Her condition deteriorated and she died due to both dengue and H1N1 flu complication.
