The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) report reveals that Mumbai recorded 377 cases of H1N1 this year from January to June. The state government’s disease report has stated that Maharashtra reported 712 H1N1 cases till June 2023
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- BMC report reveals that Mumbai recorded 377 cases of H1N1 this year from January to June
- The state government’s disease report has stated that Maharashtra reported 712 H1N1 cases till June 2023
- The city has reported around 8 per cent rise in H1N1 cases from the previous year so far
As per the latest monsoon report, out of the total H1N1 cases reported in Maharashtra this year till June, 53 per cent of the cases were reported from Mumbai.
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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) report reveals that Mumbai recorded 377 cases of H1N1 this year from January to June. The state government’s disease report has stated that Maharashtra reported 712 H1N1 cases till June 2023.
The BMC’s monsoon report released on July 3 also states that 90 cases were reported in June. Doctors in the city have been seeing a couple of H1N1 patients for a few weeks.
A week ago, a 42-year-old man and a 70-year-old diabetic woman were treated for H1N1 in Bhatia Hospital.
Speaking about the cases, Dr Samrat Shah, consultant internist at Bhatia Hospital said, “Both the patients had complaints of high-grade fever for two days, severe body pain, running nose, pain in the throat to begin with. This was followed by a cough with expectoration and breathlessness. After 48 hours, they started wheezing, and both patients developed mild crackles in the chest, developing swine flu pneumonia. Upon examination, both were detected with small pneumonic patches on the lungs. Both patients were caught with the H1N1 virus on the upper respiratory tract after performing Biofire test. It's a test where PCR is run through, and all the viruses and bacteria can be screened through this test.”
“The patients were administered Tamiflu or anti-flu dose twice a day and both of them did very well. If within 48 hours, the patient is administered with Tamiflu or Anti flu they can recover well without hospitalisation,” added Dr Shah.
So far, three deaths due to H1N1 have been reported in the state but no deaths reported in Mumbai.
More cases than previous year
While last year Mumbai recorded 346 cases from January to December, this year, within six months, the city crossed last year’s record by reporting 377 cases from January to June. The city has reported around 8 per cent rise in H1N1 cases from the previous year so far.
Dr Kirti Sabnis, infectious disease specialist, Fortis Hospital said, “Preventive measures for H1N1 include vaccination. Vaccination needs to be taken by people who have low immunity, and the vaccine has to be taken every year before the monsoon season commences. This is because it takes 15 days for the vaccine to start acting and also because more cases of H1N1 are reported mainly in the monsoon; cases are not seen much in the drier seasons.”
He added, “As H1N1 is a respiratory infection, the signs and symptoms are coughing, and generalised body pain, sometimes patients can have diarrhoea, and abdominal pain. However, mainly the symptoms are related to the respiratory tract.”
In 2022, Mumbai recorded five H1N1 deaths.
Other monsoon diseases in Mumbai
Mumbai has recorded 1,744 gastroenteritis cases in the month of June. In comparison to other monsoon-related illnesses, gastroenteritis cases witnessed a spike.
Besides this, 353 dengue cases, 141 hepatitis cases, and 97 leptospirosis cases were reported in June last month.
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