Swine Flu Comes in India

Swine Flu Comes in India

When one of her relatives became sick with the swine flu virus recently, Preeti Muley raced with her family to get the H1N1 vaccination.

But the 26-year-old was too late – two days later she came down with a 38.3 degree Celsius fever and body aches, and within two days her doctor confirmed she had been infected.

Unfortunately, a diagnosis wasn’t enough. After her physician wrote a prescription for the antiviral Tamiflu, Muley said her family ran into roadblocks at several hospitals that weren’t carrying the drugs. Finally, after several distressed phone calls to major hospitals in Mumbai, her mother was able to get the tablets at Kokilaben Hospital, a large private facility in Mumbai.

“You never think it will happen to you,” Muley, an interior designer, said wearily over the phone from her home in Andheri, a suburb of Mumbai. With one day’s worth of medication remaining, she rested in isolation to prevent others from catching the highly contagious, and sometimes fatal, virus.

Swine flu has killed an estimated 750 people with more than 11,000 testing positive since the beginning of January, according to health officials. Most of these cases were reported in the last three weeks, and the numbers are especially high in states such as Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, in central India.

H1N1 Flu Virus (Swine Flu)

H1N1 flu is also known as swine flu. It’s called swine flu because in the past, the people who caught it had direct contact with pigs. That changed several years ago, when a new virus emerged that spread among people who hadn’t been near pigs.
In 2009, H1N1 was spreading fast around the world, so the World Health Organization called it a pandemic. Since then, people have continued to get sick from swine flu, but not as many.
While swine flu isn’t as scary as it seemed a few years ago, it’s still important to protect yourself from getting it. Like seasonal flu, it can cause more serious health problems for some people. The best protection is to get a flu vaccine, or flu shot, every year. Swine flu is one of the viruses included in the vaccine.

Causes of Swine Flu

Swine flu is contagious, and it spreads in the same way as the seasonal flu. When people who have it cough or sneeze, they spray tiny drops of the virus into the air. If you come in contact with these drops or touch a surface (such as a doorknob or sink) that an infected person has recently touched, you can catch H1N1 swine flu.

Despite the name, you can’t catch swine flu from eating bacon, ham, or any other pork product.

Swine Flu Symptoms
People who have swine flu can be contagious one day before they have any symptoms, and as many as 7 days after they get sick. Kids can be contagious for as long as 10 days.
Most symptoms are the same as seasonal flu. They can include:
cough
    fever
    sore throat
    stuffy or runny nose
    body aches
    headache
    chills
    fatigue
Like seasonal flu, swine flu can lead to more serious complications, including pneumonia and respiratory failure. And it can make conditions like diabetes or asthma worse. If you have symptoms like shortness of breath, severe vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness, or confusion, call your doctor or 911 right away.

Treatments and pills for Swine Flu in India

Most cases of flu, including H1N1 flu, require only symptom relief. If you have a chronic respiratory disease, your doctor may prescribe additional medication to help relieve your symptoms.

Tamiflu Pills  &  Septilin  in India

The antiviral drugs oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) are sometimes prescribed to reduce the severity of symptoms, but flu viruses can develop resistance to them. Some researchers recommend further study on both of these drugs due to uncertainty about their effects beyond the initial reduction in symptoms.

To make development of resistance less likely and maintain supplies of these drugs for those who need them most, antivirals are reserved for people at high risk of complications.

High-risk groups are those who:

• Are hospitalized
• Are younger than 5 years of age, particularly children younger than 2 years
• Are 65 years and older
• Are pregnant or within two weeks of delivery, including women who have had pregnancy loss
• Are younger than 19 years of age and are receiving long-term aspirin therapy, because of an increased risk for Reye’s syndrome, a rare but potentially fatal disease
• Have certain chronic medical conditions, including asthma, emphysema, heart disease, diabetes, neuromuscular disease, obesity, and kidney, liver or blood disease
• Are immunosuppressed due to certain medications or HIV