India struggles to contain flu outbreak as death toll hits 700
Date February 21, 2015 - 12:16PM
Adi Narayan
More than 11,000 cases of H1N1 influenza have been reported since mid-December. Photo: AP
Mumbai: India is urging its states to ensure sufficient supply of anti-flu medication and diagnostic tests as it struggles to curb an outbreak of H1N1 influenza that has killed more than 700 people.
The government said on Thursday that there was no shortage of the medicines to treat the virus, after news reports said that private chemists were running out of the drug as customers rushed to stockpile supplies. The outbreak has sickened more than 11,000 people, and killed 703 in the last eight weeks, the Press Trust of India reported on Thursday.
"People are panicking because it's very difficult to differentiate H1N1 from routine flus," Mumbai-based chest specialist Yatin Dholakia said. "Even for doctors it's hard. It's difficult to say why the death rates this year are so high."
Elderly people, pregnant women, young children, diabetics with improperly controlled sugar levels, and HIV patients are at the "highest risk" of developing complications following the flu, as their immune systems tend to be weaker.
Gujarat, Rajasthan, Telangana, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir appear to be the states worst-affected by the outbreak.
The disease has been spreading rapidly. There were 5157 reported cases with 407 deaths this year, the Health Ministry said on February 11. In the following eight days, the number of cases more than doubled, the Press Trust of India reported.
Diagnostic testing services in some cities have been quick to profit on the mass panic by inflating test prices. The newly elected government in Delhi last week capped the price of the the diagnostic test at 4500 rupees ($92), after news reports some facilities were charging twice as much, the Financial Express reported pm Thursday.
Bloomberg
