After holding “Odisha mosquitoes” responsible for causing malaria in the state, the government now feels “swine flu virus, H1N1 from neighbouring Maharashtra” is infecting Hyderabad residents. Days after Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy reviewed the situation and directed health officials concerned to put medical officers on a high alert to prevent a spurt in swine flu cases in the state, health minister Dr D.L. Ravindra Reddy on Tuesday said there was no need to press the panic button. “The situation has been reviewed and it’s not alarming,” Dr Ravindra Reddy said. He explained: “Awareness programmes and IEC (information, education and communication) activities are on. Some deaths and cases are being reported in the capital (but) it is because H1N1 is prevalent in neighbouring Maharashtra.”
He added: “Infected migrant people from Maharashtra, who come to Hyderabad, are spreading swine flu in the city.” Significantly, swine flu has claimed eight lives over the past three months in the state, the victims being either pregnant women or elderly citizens with little travel history outside the state.
Five swine flu deaths have taken place in Hyderabad since March, and dozens have been reported affected. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation has stated that even though H1N1 is a known virus, its strains are getting more complex. So unless the threat from the virus is tackled at the outset, it warns, the situation may get out of control in the days to come. Swine flu, earlier seen to strike during monsoon and winter, is now being reported in summer months, too, in many states.