By: ML Verma
Shimla: A 34-year-old man died due to swine flu in Shimla today, the first such death in the state in the past more than three months, a health official said.
State swine flu nodal officer Vinod Mehta told HimVani that the victim, Anil Kumar, a resident of Chirgaon in Rohru sub-division of Shimla district, died at the IGMC Hospital here after he tested positive for deadly H1N1 influenza virus. The deceased had recently returned from Delhi after selling apples and was brought to the hospital on Tuesday, and tested positive for swine flu on Wednesday.
A team of doctors also visited Chirgaon area on Wednesday to check further infection among people who came in contact with the deceased and collecting samples from them.
Health minister Rajeev Bindal informed the state assembly in a written reply on August 17 that no case of swine flu had been reported in the state since April. He said 50 people tested positive this year for swine flu out of 206 samples collected till July 31.
“The toll due to the disease in the state (till July 31) was 16. Out of these, 10 patients, who belonged to the state, died in hospitals outside the state,” the minister added. Testing facility for H1N1 in the state is available at IGMC Hospital and the Central Research Institute at Kasauli in Solan district.
