India “firmly monitoring” flu outbreak with 2 deaths and thousands of cases | news

India’s health ministry said on Friday it was “firmly monitoring” the outbreak of influenza in various parts of the Asian country, with thousands of confirmed cases and two deaths from the main variant, A H3N2.

“The ministry is closely monitoring morbidity and mortality due to the H3N2 subtype of seasonal flu,” it said in a statement, adding that the southern states of Karnataka and northern Haryana have reported one death each for the variant.

According to data collected by the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP), 27% had difficulty breathing and 6% had seizures, with 7% requiring admission to intensive care units, officials said.

“The A H3N2 variant is the predominant subtype among samples that have tested positive for influenza since the beginning of the year,” the ministry said, adding that it has detected 955 cases of type A H1N1 so far this year.

The Asian country has confirmed 3,038 different subtypes of influenza so far this year, including A H3N2, which is considered more virulent and has caused the highest number of hospitalizations.

Most of those hospitalized were for flu-like illness, with 436,523 flu-like illnesses in February alone, an increase of nearly 10% compared to those recorded in the previous month, when nearly 7,000 people were hospitalized. He was also hospitalized in February for an acute respiratory infection.

Although the health ministry has recommended that Indian states vaccinate health workers treating H1N1 patients, India expects seasonal flu cases to start declining from late March.

Officials also said they have enough of Oseltamivir, an antiviral compound recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and used to treat flu infections.

More in the Andean

(END) EFE/CFS

Posted: 3/10/2023