Rajasthan confirms first Swine Flu death, India Toll 105
Three more Swine Flu deaths were reported from Pune, Rajasthan and Karnataka, taking the nation-wide death toll to 105. Rajasthan confirmed the first Swine Flu death, as a 26-year-old woman, who died on August 21, tested positive for A H1N1 virus. The victim was identified as Sheela Khandelwal.
In Pune, a seven-year-old girl Priyanka Shimilkar, who was admitted to government-run Sassoon Hospital on August 29, died of Swine Flu. Pune has now accounted for 32 Swine Flu deaths - highest in the country. In total, 54 Swine Flu deaths were reported from Maharashtra.
A 31-year-old Software Engineer died of A H1N1 virus in Bangalore, taking the death toll in Karnataka to 28. The Software Engineer was working with reputed US/based IT company in Bangalore. He was admitted to Lakeside Hospital after complaining of flu-like symptoms. Earlier, another 38-year-old man died of swine flu in Bangalore on Tuesday.
Three companies bag Rs 92-lakh swine flu drug order
NEW DELHI: Ranbaxy Labs, Hetero Drugs and Strides Acrolabs have together bagged orders to supply 92-lakh capsules of generic or low-priced version of swine flu drug Tamiflu. Last month, the government had said it would procure two crore capsules for treating swine flu to control the spread of the disease in the country. Of these, Hetero had earlier bagged order to supply one crore.
Bangalore-based Strides Acrolabs has bagged the biggest order. The company said on Tuesday it would supply 74-lakh capsules. Ranbaxy and Hetero have bagged orders to supply nine lakh capsules each to the government. The medicine would be supplied at Rs 270 per 10 capsules of 75 mg, people familiar with the development said. The three companies are expected to supply the drugs in the next few days.
Healthcare workers will be first in line for swine flu vaccine
NEW DELHI: India will vaccinate 20 lakh healthcare and emergency services personnel against the deadly H1N1 virus by the end of January using an imported swine flu vaccine.
The health ministry has set aside Rs 100 crore as an interim budget to purchase these vaccines from any one of the four international manufacturers - Novartis, GSK, Sanofi Pasteur and Baxter - whose candidates are presently undergoing human trials. However, India has one clear condition - the vaccine would have to undergo safety and efficacy trials on the Indian population before being used in the country.
According to experts, the vaccine may behave differently in Indians in comparison to people of other nationalities and may cause serious side effects like paralysis, urticaria and toxic reactions. Refusing to accept data from the trials conducted in foreign countries, ICMR director general Dr V M Katoch wrote to all four companies making it clear that even if it was not a largescale trial, the companies would have to atleast undertake a two-month bridge study on around 500 healthy volunteers. Novartis and GSK have agreed to initiate a bridge study in India while the other two are yet to get back.
The global vaccines are expected to be available by October-end. It will then undergo a two-month bridge study in India. If found to be safe and efficacious in the Indian population, the two-dose vaccine, expected to cost around Rs 500 per dose, will be imported for frontline health workers dealing with H1N1 cases.
India’s indigenous vaccine being developed by Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech and Panacea Biotech is expected to be ready by April. The Indian vaccine will then be picked up by the government at a much cheaper price to vaccinate other high risk groups like children younger than five years old, people suffering from chronic health disorders and pregnant women.
Swine flu 'scanner' now at Ambaji fair
AHMEDABAD: Fears of contracting the H1N1 virus at the popular full moon fair at Ambaji in north Gujarat might be put to rest after two Swine Flu Isolation Surveillance Systems (SIFSS), designed by an Ahmedabad-based IT company, were set up at the entry points.Since Saturday nearly 1.5 lakh people have been scanned and of these, daily 10-15 showed a fever, but have not been quarantined, since they didn’t have swine flu symptoms.
The system, developed by Ragesh Shah and his team at Online Infocomm, was first tried in Singapore and Malaysia airports during bird flu outbreak, and will prove to be a boon for the Navratri festival which sees thousands at a venue. The SFSS records temperature and also monitors the person’s pulse and oxygen saturation, all crucial indicators for screening of swine flu. The scanners are put up at Danta and Chikla points to Ambaji.
No swine flu fear during Pitripaksh Mela
PATNA: With festive season round the corner, those working to mitigate swine flu threat in India are going to have their hands full in days to come. For, chances of spread of highly contagious H1N1 virus, which causes swine flu increases in this season as people in large number come out during festivities and presence of an H1NI infected person at public places can wreck havoc.
In Bihar’s Gaya town, the health department officials would have to face such a situation even before the festive season actually sets in. For, the town receives lakhs of people from across the country during the course of 15-day long Pitripaksh Mela, starting from September 5 this year.
The health department here has geared up to face this situation. One of the steps taken is an effective screening system which would be put in place during the course of the `mela’. As many as 10 teams of doctors would be deputed at different places of `mela’ and anyone having flu like symptoms would be screened. These teams would work round-the-clock. Gaya having a medical college, a 10-bed isolation ward is already in place for cases of swine flu.
Forget H1N1 here's H5N1!
Forget H1N1, there’s H5N1 for you to worry about now! In all the panic about swine flu, doctors across the globe are warning of confusing the symptoms of H1N1 for meningitis – a far more deadly and dangerous disease, and also one without a vaccine.
The symptoms for swine flu and meningitis are largely the same – ranging from fevers, body aches, fevers and cold hands and feet. As the vacation period across the world comes to an end and people return from holidaying in far flung places, holiday makers are thought to be potentially contagious and capable of spreading the disease, making doctors brace for a second global outbreak.
This year in April, 2009, a severe meningitis outbreak hit Tripura and Meghalaya, with the government undertaking a drive to vaccinate the entire population with the World Health Organisation chipping in with 3.5 lakh vaccines. The fatal bacterial infection had sprung up in Tripura since January 2009 which recorded 126 confirmed meningitis cases and 33 deaths by April. The last major meningitis outbreak to strike India was in 2005, with over 80 people dying in the capital alone.
