Techolic

Swine flu cases soar from 1 to 3 in India!

The number of confirmed cases of swine flu was only one in India till last evening. This morning I was shocked to read reports that another two more cases of swine flu have been detected in India. It is important to note here that the two new persons were actually co-passengers of the one confirmed case earlier!

The confirmed case is that of a 23-year-old techie who last week arrived from the US via Dubai to India.

It seems Emirates Air has already given the complete list of passengers to both the UAE Ministry of Health and also the Andhra Pradesh Government to check out the other passengers who traveled on the same flight. It seems so far that a sample comprising 66 people have been tested by the health authorities for the H1N1 flu--the biological name for swine flu.

Though there's been only one confirmed infection, with another two suspected cases--bringing the tally to three--it seems a pretty low figure for a country like India which has so many citizens traveling abroad or arriving from the American continent. Yet this new disease is causing nightmares for health officials. Currently, at all international airports, passengers flying into India need to declare if they have any flu symptoms and if they have traveled to the American subcontinent. Medical personal have been posted to test those with flu symptoms, and if needed, to cross-check with swabs taken and sent for further testing.

On the technology front, India has already embarked on developing a vaccine for the deadly swine flu. The Indian government-based ICMR has gotten a strain of the H1N1 virus from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta to help it in research work. Currently, we have only the Tamiflu drug to help in cases of infection. Though Tamiflu was not intially developed for the swine flu, it has proven effective for treating early bouts of the infection. Only time will tell what other flu viruses we will have to worry about. We have had chicken, cow and now pig flu. I wonder if the lamb is next :P

Recent Comments

binoyxj: @montbkk lol! what was that? :D more »

montbkk: You mean I won but don't get the printer! more »

binoyxj: Ohh! thanks for the info Jason! i was wondering what happened :) more »

Most Discussed

Correct way of cooking noodles  (13 comments)

iPhone 3G not catching up in India  (11 comments)

Motorola finally launches the high-end Aura in India--Cost: US$2,300 approx.  (9 comments)

Microsoft Word turns 25 years old this year!  (8 comments)

Now get a PS2 for US$100--not an April Fool's joke!  (7 comments)

How to easily recover your Google password via SMS  (7 comments)

Browse Archive

2009

 January  April  July  October

 February  May  August  November

 March  June  September

 

2008

 June  September  December

 July  October

 August  November