Swine flu probe looks for different virus strains

Meanwhile, 10 new cases were reported on Tuesday, taking the figure to 62 this year.

A committee formed to review the four swine flu deaths in Delhi and identify the reasons for the “sudden surge” in cases this year has found that two of the victims were also diagnosed with other strains of influenza besides H1N1 virus.

The five-member committee will now meet microbiologists to determine if the H1N1 virus, which till last year was identified to be similar to the 2009 strain, has mutated or if other strains are for the virulence.

Committee member Dr R N Das said, “One of the victims had influenza B and the other had H3N2 along with H1N1. Since herd immunity has already been developed against the old H1N1 strain, the number of cases last year were low. So we are trying to identify if the strain has mutated or other influenza viruses have a role to play.”

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The committee, chaired by Dr Debhashish Bhattacharya from the Directorate of Health Services (DHS), includes nodal officer for swine flu in Delhi Dr Charan Singh, Dr A K Saini, Dr Pawan Kumar and Dr Das.

The other two victims had health conditions including diabetes, hypertension and respiratory diseases, conditions that are known to aggravate H1N1 symptoms. “In one case, the victim had tested positive for H1N1 from a private lab, but his reports from National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) were negative. But till now the patient is being included as an H1N1 death case,” Dr Das said.

Meanwhile, 10 new cases were reported on Tuesday, taking the figure to 62 this year.

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