Karnataka has registered only 28 cases of H1N1 infections between October-November 2015, when in the past, around 100 cases have been reported for the same period.
Dr Shashidhar Buggi, director of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, told Deccan Herald that, “This could be due to the seasonal variations. We have seen continuous rains over the last month. It is just now that the temperature has begun to drop. We must wait and watch.”
Until November 3,550 cases of H1N1 were reported from across the state. This year the virus has claimed 91 lives – the highest in the last six years.
However, Dr H Paramesh, chairperson of the committee constituted by the State government to look into H1N1 cases said, “There is no particular season when it has peaked. A possible reason is that we have developed immunity to the flu over the years.”
Officials in the department of health and family welfare said that all hospitals in the state have been given instructions to look for symptoms of the flu in patients with fever.
Precautionary measures were also put in place to prevent an outbreak after a meeting with the Health minister earlier this month.