When a delay can mean death

1. Pune girl reports symptoms of sore throat,runny nose,headaches on July 21 and consults a general practitioner. She is admitted to Jehangir Hospital on July 27 when symptoms persisted,for treatment of suspected pneumonia. She dies in the hospital on August 3.

2. 22-year-old student of Stellenbosch University,South Africa,visits campus clinic on July 20 with flu-like symptoms. Dies on July 28 at Western Cape private hospital.

3. Brazilian teenager dies while flying in a plane. She was diagnosed with H1N1 influenza on July 29 and was on her way to Sao Paulo on August 2 when she died.

4. Singapore teenager dies after going to the National University Hospitals emergency department on July 22. He had been suffering from cough and fever since July 18.

5. Arizona teenager dies at Pima County Health Department a week after being diagnosed with H1N1 influenza. The 13-year-old boy died due to multiple organ failure on June 15.

While trends of the H1N1 pandemic remain under study,the patterns emerging from deaths so far suggest that patients succumb to the virus mostly due to delay in diagnosis and rarely because of the malignancy of the viral strain,said Dr Bir Singh,Professor of Community Medicine,All India Institute of Medical Sciences AIIMS.

According to experts,the delay in treatment allows the virus to damage the lining of lung tissues. When this happens,the infection spreads to the blood,which eventually leads to a multiple organ failure. Though it is too early to say anything about the trend,two patterns are emerging currently. In one case,deaths are being cause due to delayed diagnosis and treatment. When the infection spreads through the blood stream,organs slowly start failing. This is why it takes close to five days for a patient to succumb to the virus.

The second is due to virulent strain of H1N1. It is,however,very difficult to say anything about mutation of the virus at this stage, said Dr Singh.