Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, Feb 7: After witnessing a decrease in the numbers of H1N1 cases till September last year, two more new cases of the virus have been reported at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura.
Two new cases that have been tested positive for the virus have been admitted to the hospital on Thursday where they are undergoing treatment and are said to be stable.
The new cases are: an infant who is 18 months old and another one is a 45-year old male, both tested positive for the virus. “Both the patients are stable and their condition is being monitored,” Medical Superintendent, SKIMS Dr Farooq Jan told Excelsior.
He said a total number of 72 patients tested positive for the virus since September at SKIMS. “All the patients who tested positive, especially those who were admitted to the hospital, were treated and later discharged from the hospital. No death was reported due to the virus since September,” he said.
As per the officials, a total of 702 samples of the patients-who were having the symptoms of flu-were taken for the tests in the OPD since September.
They further said that out of 702 samples that were taken, a total number of 298 patients were tested positive, in which 268 tested positive for Influenza-B and 30 patients tested positive for Influenza-A, while as rest of 404 samples did not show any activity of influenza and came back negative. Both, Influenza-A, B are the sub-types of the H1N1 virus.
Earlier, in November last year, one case that tested positive for the virus was admitted in the SKIMS, and was later discharged. Then in December, there was once again one positive case admitted at SKIMS. The patient was suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and was later discharged from the hospital after having recovered. The number of positive cases was finally down to zero by the end of December.
With the onset of winter season in the Valley, the cases of H1N1 virus began to be reported, however, this season, till December a downward trend was observed with regard to the cases that were reported at SKIMS.
The number of H1N1 cases are also down to zero at Chest Diseases Hospital in Srinagar which also houses and treats such patients with it having a separate testing facility which was only available at SKIMS.
Dr Saleem Tak, Medical Superintendent, Chest Diseases Hospital told Excelsior that this time the trend of the virus is down. “We have few cases at the hospital, but as of now, there is none,” he said.
Pertinently, from September to January 2018, there were a total number of 120 such cases that were reported in Valley, out of which 39 were undergoing treatment at SKIMS while 7 deaths were also reported.
Further, in November 2018 there were more than 10 cases of the H1N1 virus that were reported at the hospital. There were few deaths of the patients who were infected by the virus as well owing to the co-morbidities that patients had.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
