Following an increase in the number of cases of swine flu in Karnataka, with a large number of cases found in Bengaluru, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has set up a special team to track and monitor the infection in the city.
“We have set up a ward level committee aided by local counselors. A meeting with health workers and doctors of health centres will be held to tackle the problem,” stated Dr Shivkumar, Project Coordinator in Public Health Information and Epidemiological Cell (PHIEC) of BBMP, “All of this is being undertaken to give awareness to the local community. We will distribute pamphlets and educate people about prevention and control of H1N1.”
People who are exhibiting any signs or symptoms of the infection are being given tamiflu tablets as a precaution and to prevent any further spread of the same.
While there is a vaccine against swine flu, Dr Shivkumar explains that the strains of the virus mutate and change (a natural occurrence) so vaccines are only recommended for health workers who come in close contact with those who may be infected by the virus, namely staff working in hospital ICUs and those who work with patients on ventilators.
“This particular vaccine is not needed for the general population, it’s efficacy is only about 70% or so, therefore we only give the vaccine to those people who may have a high chance of coming in contact with an infected person,” adds Dr Shivkumar.
He further notes that the virus is normally present in the environment and the most susceptible individuals are the elderly, very young children, people with impaired immune systems and those who may have comorbid diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension.
“Healthy people are not affected as much. If someone feels like they may be presenting with symptoms of the flu, they should self quarantine themselves and take all basic personal hygiene measures as needed,” he states.
In the past month alone, over 400 cases of swine flu have been reported in the state. The disease is caused by the influenza A virus.
The most common symptoms of swine flu are high fever, persistent cough, cold, sore throat, nausea, headache and vomiting. A throat swab and culture is the test done to determine whether someone is H1N1 positive.