SRINAGAR: Fresh cases of swine flu have been reported in the hospitals in Srinagar here, officials said.
While over 100 people have tested positive for H1N1 in the last nearly 4-months, doctors have said that the cold wave conditions could further increase the prevalence of the disease. At the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital (SMHS) three more cases of swinfe flu have been reported at the hospital in last 24-hours.
On Wednesday the authorities at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) said that at least seven people have died due to swine flu. Officials said that the at SKIMS 69 cases of H1N1 were reported from whom seven people died.
Officials said that at least eight patients are still admitted in the SKIMS, who are undergoing treatment.
Both SKIMS and SMHS have also set up an isolation wards for the patients who are tested positive for H1N1, officials said, adding that all the equipments are available at the hospital to tackle the situation.
Officials said that the SKIMS has advanced testing facilities for the virus and has a specialised isolation ward for handling such cases.
The situation was worse last year when over 30 swine flu deaths were reported at SKIMS between October 2017 to February 2018. Apart from the H1N1 infections, people had also tested positive for the H2N3 strain of the virus. Earlier the Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) asked the people to use antiviral drugs to prevent the outbreak of the disease. Early antiviral medication prevents swine flu deaths, said DAK President and swine flu expert, Dr Nisar ul Hassan. A large meta-analysis of 78 studies conducted across 38 countries and involving more than 29,000 patients showed that early treatment with antiviral medication reduced the risk of death by 60 percent, he said.
Doctors should prescribe antiviral medication to flu patients as soon as possible and should not wait for the test results as delay could be fatal, added Dr Nisar. The DAK said that as per a panel report, 70 percent of swine flu deaths in 2017 at Pune were due to delay in treatment.
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