The state of Karnataka is on high alert after four deaths were reported due to swine flu in the month of October.
56-year-old Shivananjegouda, the most recent victim, hailed from Arakalagadu region. He was shifted to a hospital in Bengaluru after an unsuccessful treatment at a mission hospital in Hasan, reports The News Minute. It was only in the Bengaluru hospital that the doctors suspected that Shivanjegouda might be suffering from swine flu.
Hassan District Health Officer Dr Satish told The News Minute, "There have been 89 suspected cases in the district so far. We have sent samples and only nine were confirmed positive for swine flu. Of these, two patients presented with some complications."
According to earlier reports, while the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases stated that there were four deaths in three months, excluding that of Shivananjegouda, the state health department is seemingly unaware of it.
"This is the biggest outbreak since September 2015. The virus is already in the community and those who have lost their immunity are particularly susceptible to falling ill," Dr Sunanda Reddy, the district surveillance officer Bengaluru (Urban) told Hindustan Times.
