Two days after a seven-month-old girl succumbed to swine flu,the city reported its fourth death due to the H1N1 virus on Thursday when a 35-year-old Ghatkopar resident, Dattatray Gawde,succumbed to Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). He had tested positive for the H1N1 virus on Wednesday. Gawde was also diabetic and had travelled to Pune. Additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar said,He was admitted to the Kasturba Hospital on August 18. He was suffering from severe ARDS and was immediately put on ventilator. He was given Tamiflu the same day. His throat swab was sent to National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune for testing and we had received the report on August 19. He died on Thursday evening. Sources at Kasturba Hospital said that he had flu-like symptoms for the past 3-4 days. He had fever for a week that refused to subside. Later,we rushed him to Satyam Nursing Home,but doctors there referred us to Kasturba Hospital as he had flu-like symptoms, one of Gawdes relatives had told Newsline on Tuesday. He was immediately put on ventilator. Satyam Nursing Homes Dr Rajeev Singh said they had sent him to Kasturba an hour after his arrival as he was breathless. He had swine flu-like symptoms. He had come around 8.10 am, said Dr Singh. He has a travel history to Pune.about two weeks back. Later,he developed symptoms and visited a local general practitioner. Before coming here,he went to Rajawadi Hospital three to four days ago but his throat swab was not taken and he continued with the private practitioner, said Dr Singh. Gawdes case falls under category B for his pre-existing illness (diabetes). If a patient under category B has flu-like symptoms,his swabs should be taken for testing according to the new protocol. On why Rajawadi Hospital did not test him,Mhaiskar said,May be he didnt develop the symptoms. I will have to check with the hospital. H1N1 OUTBREAK UPDATEMumbai* 3 deaths so far* 1258 screened on Thursday* 240 on Tamiflu* 43 tested positive* 14 admitted Maharashtra* 1 death in Pune on Thursday * 19307 screened* 720 on tamiflu* 87 positive* 142 admitted
