KATHMANDU, MAR 02 - A 40-year-old woman succumbed on Saturday night to what appears to be the first death blamed on A (H1N1) influenza or swine flu this season in the Capital. With the death, experts have urged health institutions and individuals to conduct swine flu tests on suspected patients, especially those who are already suffering from chronic respiratory diseases and showing flu-like symptoms. For others, they suggest quick medical aid and taking ample rest in case.
As the woman had not travelled outside the Capital recently, the case suggests that she might have contracted the disease within the Valley. “It is obvious that the virus is circulating in our environment as some cases of H1N1 influenza last year too had no travel history to India or elsewhere,” said Dr Arpana Neupane of Kathmandu Medical College. “Since the virulence differs in each season, strain of the virus must have become stronger this year.”
The woman, a resident of Chhetrapati and a long-time asthma patient, was admitted to Model Hospital on February 17 and was diagnosed with swine flu five days ago.
As the H1N1 cases are rising steadily, Dr Neupane calls for an urgent need for assessing the severity of the outbreak and determining if it has taken epidemic proportions. Out of the total 300 samples collected from across the country, a total of 42 patients have tested positive for the H1N1 influenza until Sunday, according to Epidemiology and Disease Control Division. Swine flu has claimed 20 lives in the country since the disease was first detected in 2009.
The A (H1N1) pdm 09 strain of influenza found in Nepal is the same one that caused a global pandemic in 2009, which according to WHO killed more than 18,000 people. Other cases of flu outbreaks in the country are suspected to have spread due to a mutant strain of the disease yet unknown.
0 comments:
Post a Comment