Pregnant Woman Dies Of Swine Flu

A 23 year old woman, who was seven months pregnant, died from swine flu last Friday at the Gandhi Hospital. S Bhavani, from Warangal is the third casualty since January and the second this monsoon season. Supposedly, the virus has mutated from its earlier Californian strain to the new and deadlier, Michigan strain. "The woman was brought to the facility with symptoms of swine flu such as shivering, high temperature and breathlessness. She was referred to us by Aware Global Hospitals in the city where she was undergoing treatment," said Dr Shravan, superintendent, Gandhi Hospital.

The patient was brought to the private hospital, Aware Global Hospitals, at the edge of the city, and was already suffering from a severe infection. The deceased at that point of time required intensive care and was immediately put on a ventilator. But due to the high cost of a private hospital, the family had no choice but to remove her from the private facility and shift her to a government facility.

"We had already spent about 4 lakh rupees for her treatment. When we could not afford it anymore and were not assured of recovery, we moved her to Gandhi Hospital," a relative said

This year the death toll has been low, but on the other hand the number of reported cases have gone up by quite an amount. This led to the suspicion and the resultant discovery of the mutation in the virus. Prior to this the mutated strain had been detected in other parts of the world, but it is only now that the mutated virus has been isolated here.

"While the fact that the virus has mutated has been confirmed but whether it is stronger than the earlier strain or not is not confirmed. Usually when a mutation happens the newer strain emerges stronger than the earlier strain and hence an immediate switch in the vaccine is required," said a senior official from the state health department.