Reeling under Dengue Menace, Telangana Now Prepares for Swine Flu

After Dengue, the Telangana Health department is bracing for a rise in the cases of H1N1 (swine flu) and has issued a memo to district authorities to prepare for its onslaught.

The health department has ordered the district authorities to keep isolation wards ready, besides keeping a strict vigil on cases of swine flu, The Times of India reported. It has also decided to conduct a massive public awareness campaign on the prevention of swine flu.

The state saw 2,165 cases of swine flu in 2017, in which 21 people succumbed to the disease. In 2018, there were 1,007 swine flu cases reported, including 28 deaths. As of 2019, there have been 1,299 cases of swine flu recorded till date, with the death toll already reaching 21 in the state. According to the report, 85% of cases are from Hyderabad, Medchal, Malkajgiri and Rangareddy districts.

As part of preparations to combat swine flu, positioning of drugs, masks and other materials has been ordered, the report added.

Further, district medical health officers and hospital superintendents have been directed to collect throat swab samples of suspected cases and send them to the laboratories at Institute of Preventive Medicine in Narayanguda or Fever Hospital, Nallakunta.

According to the memo being circulated, in view of the transmission season, one needs to maintain strict vigil and closely monitor the cases to contain the spread of the disease in the state. There are effective drugs to deal with H1N1.

The memo further reads that strict compliance to treatment protocol should be ensured and abundant and timely care should be taken for high risk category patients.

Pregnant women, people over 65 years of age and children below 5 as well as patients with lung, liver, heart, kidney, blood or neurological diseases or those on long-term cortisone therapy and children with mild illness are among the high-risk patients.

According to the memo, if a case of high-risk category patients come up, they should be straight away shifted to Gandhi Hospital, Hyderabad while paediatric patients should be shifted to Niloufer Hospital, Hyderabad.