Swine flu: city gets its second confirmed case

Health officials at the Naidu Hospital have decided not to divulge the patient’s details as patients complain of depression following the media attention.

Meanwhile,to break the transmission of the virus,the health officials have now started ‘contact tracing’. Dr R Katti,Deputy Director of Health Services,who is in Pune as part of the H1N1 influenza surveillance network,has been interacting with medical officers in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad and highlighting the importance of ‘contact tracing’.

He said the network would guide and encourage those infected with the flu to give details of those who have been travelling with them or contacted them personally. “We will urge such ‘contacts’ to maintain a self-imposed home quarantine,” he said.

Katti said at present the disease was in its milder form. However,since the World Health Organisation has declared it a pandemic,the first wave is usually a mild one and it is likely that there could be a second wave after three to four months. This may or may not be virulent,he said,and hence the preparedness. There are four positive patients with the H1N1 virus in Maharashtra at present.