India seems to be on the verge of a major swine flu outbreak with the continuous rise in people being tested positive for the virus. So far, 1,100 people have been reported to have succumbed to the virus attack in 2017. Maharashtra is the worst affected state with 488 deaths, followed by Gujarat with 343 people losing their lives to the virus.
The Health Ministry Data has reported 22,186 cases of swine flu in India this year. Experts say the increasing number is due to the changes in the virus.
The National Center for Disease Control (NCDC,) AIIMS in Delhi and National Institue of Virology in Pune have studied the virus and reported that H1N1 strain is different from before, it is much stronger.
Director at NCDC, Dr. A. C. Dhariwal said, “The virus this year is the Michigan strain. Earlier, it was mostly the California strain.”
Uttar Pradesh has reported 2,798 H1N1 cases in this year and 64 succumbing to the virus. Punjab on the other hand has reported 31 fatalities and Himachal Pradesh 27.
Rajastan was affected with 910 cases out of which 86 lost their lives. Madhya Pradesh has reported 23 deaths out of 550 cases. West Bengal and Assam has seen the least affected with five and four deaths respectively in each state.
Telangana reported 1,704 cases by 28th August. Kerela has 1,308 patients suffering with the virus among them 74 have already succumbed to the air borne disease.
In 2016, the whole of India reported only 265 deaths out of 1,786 cases for the whole year.
