The H1N1 virus seems to have slowly but steadily made its way into the state, with the deaths toll since January this year standing as 12. Adults, particularly young to middling adults, are more prone to it. All the 12 deaths were in the age group of 22-45 years, and of the 217 positive cases registered with the State Health and Family Welfare Department, about 90 per cent belong to this age group, says Dr Aruna, joint director, communicable diseases, health and family welfare department.
Normally, in the case of any seasonal flu, it is people above 65 years of age and below five years who are the most vulnerable. But in the case of H1N1, it is the 22-45 age group that is at risk. A possible reason for this says Dr Sashidhar Buggi, director of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD), is that people in this age group move around for work and mingle around in the community and so are more exposed to the virus.
“Those who were born before the 1950s --had witnessed previous flus like H5N1, and may have gained partial cross immunity. Across the globe, the age of those who have succumbed to H1N1 or those who are affected, is mostly between 20-45 years. A clinical assessment is necessary to determine the cause,” Dr Buggi said. Dr Vivek A. Padegal, consultant pulmonologist at Manipal Hospital agrees with Dr Buggi that elderly people have derived immunity from earlier pandemics. “In case of children, they are not as exposed to the community as adults, so this might be the reason for more young adults getting affected,” he added.
Dr T.S. Cheluvaraju, director, health and family welfare department, who was earlier the joint director, communicable diseases, said the number of deaths from this virus have increased this year. “In 2009, H1N1 influenza had claimed 135 lives, 120 lives in 2010 and 16 lives in 2011. The number of deaths has subsided over the years, but this year the number seems to show a steady growth. Like any influenza, H1N1 too will be in the community for a few more years. Statistics from these three years have shown that about 90 per cent of the people who have succumbed to H1N1 influenza were adults.”