Aurangabad: Three persons, suspected to be suffering from swine flu, died in Marathwada region of Maharashtra, health officials said Saturday.
The causalities were reported from Latur and Jalna
districts of Marathwada region.
If the reports of the three test positive for H1N1
virus, the nationwide toll due to swine flu will reach 26.
Yesterday, Pune District Collector Chandrakant Dalvi
had told reporters that of the 15 deaths reported so far from
the city, only 12 were due to the virus as the three patients
who had died of suspected flu, have tested negative.
Sudam Manik Kale (40), a resident of Ashti village in
Jalna district died yesterday at the Government Medical
College and Hospital (GMCH) in Aurangabad, where he was
admitted a day before following complaints of cold and fever.
Kale was suffering from pneumonia, Civil Surgeon Dr P
S Gavali said. His swab samples have been sent to NIV, Pune
for tests and the results were awaited, he said.
Another 30-year-old man, Sharad Nanasaheb Gaikwad,
from Ambad tehsil in Jalna, died on his way to the Aurangabad
hospital on Thursday evening, hospital sources said.
He was undergoing treatment for the disease symptoms,
they said.
A two-year-old boy, Arjun Srinivas Wagmare, who was
suffering with the flu symptoms, died in Nilanga tehsil of
Hadga village in Latur district after he was admitted to a
hospital here on Wednesday.
Tehsil medical officer Dr Vijaykumar Nimbalkar, said,
"It is not yet confirmed that the boy died of swine flu. He
was suffering from a brain disease and also showed symptoms of
the viral infection."
Besides the 12 deaths in Pune, one person each has
died due to viral infection in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Chennai,
Raipur, Thiruvananthapuram, Bilaspur and Nashik and two each
in Bangalore and Mumbai.
As 117 flu cases were reported across the country
yesterday, one of the highest numbers on a single day, Union
Minister of Health Ghulam Nabi Azad held a four-hour meeting
in Delhi with private healthcare centres and decided to issue
fresh set of strict guidelines for dealing with the disease to
calm the fears among the people.
Also, the total number of screening centres in Pune
have been increased to 64 in wake of the maximum number of
deaths here.
Screening centres would also open at 24 rural
hospitals and 96 primary health centres so that patients with
minor symptoms could be treated, the district Collector said.
Bureau Report
