Over 600 pigs have died from swine fever and about 12,200 have been infected in the past two months in Mizoram, officials said here on Wednesday.

“The endemic swine fever caused the death of as many as 470 pigs in Aizawl district alone while remaining 130 died in other districts. Over 12,200 pigs have been infected with the disease,” a Mizoram animal husbandry and veterinary department official told reporters. The northeastern state shares border with Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The infection rate of swine flu continues to hover around 10%, scientists at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) here said on Thursday. This means, of the total suspected H1N1 patients, 10-15% are testing positive.

Since January, 76 of the 345 swine flu patients in the state have succumbed to the infection, making for a mortality rate of 22%. Pune city has reported 172 cases and 22 deaths so far this year — a mortality rate of 12%. Among the 76 casualties, the highest, 59, have occurred in March and April alone.

‘Chances of being infected with the disease lower during summer’

A total of four H1N1 cases have been reported in the district since January 2013. Of the cases reported, all the patients suffering from the influenza have been cured or are currently recuperating from the viral infection.
District Surveillance Officer, Dr D G Nagaraj said that the potency of the virus declined with the increase in temperature. Therefore, the chances of being infected with the disease was lower in summer months. “All the four people who were infected, were infected during the months of winter,” he said.

Experts, though, deem it premature to call it a recurrence of an epidemic

With two cases of swine flu reported in West Bengal recently, concerns have been raised over a possible recurrence since a two-and-a-half-year hiatus.
Officials of the State’s Department of Health and Family Welfare, though, said on Sunday that it was “too premature” to comment on whether the threat of another swine flu epidemic loomed.

Ahmedabad: The milk capital Anand may figure in chief minister Narendra Modi’s speeches in Delhi for the success of Amul, but the district could be a case study for its poor human development index

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat lacks proper health infrastructure to contain deaths by swine flu - which has claimed over 180 lives across the state this season - according to the India representative of Global Hygiene Council.

"Lack of both awareness and facilities like isolation wards and ventilators, are likely responsible for the high death toll from swine flu in Gujarat," said India representative of Global Hygiene Council, Dr Narendra Saini, at an interaction with the media here.

Citizens Must Not Lower Guard Yet, Maintain Caution: Experts

Ahmedabad: The death toll due to swine flu in the state reached a staggering 180 on Tuesday, with the maximum casualties recorded in Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Kutch, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar.
Officials claimed the deaths and number of swineflucaseshave gradually gone down in the past few weeks, raising hopes that the worst might be over with the onset of summer. However, Tuesday’s unseasonal rains have brought back fear in the hearts of the citizens.

AHMEDABAD: Seemingly unimpressed with the state government's measures to curb swine flu menace, justice A S Dave of Gujarat high court on Tuesday commented, "Everything is perfect on paper, the difficulty comes at the time of implementation."

In response to various queries posed by the high court to meet the requirement in the epidemic-like situation, the state government submitted a report stating that the administration has achieved all targets set to tackle the situation.

Temperature Fluctuation, Depleting Immunity Contributing Factors

Pune: Scientists at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) have seen a rise of 10% to 15% in swine flu cases in March. “The virus transmission earlier was not more than 2%. We have observed a sharp rise in the transmissibility of the swine flu virus since March,” NIV deputy director and senior scientist Mandeep Chadha told TOI on Monday.

Pune: The number of swine flu deaths in Maharashtra in March this year was more than thrice the number registered in the same month last year.