HYDERABAD: Tests to find if swine flu virus is mutating will be conducted every week by National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, with the help of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said health officials from the state. “Random samples would be collected for the tests,” said Dr G Srinivas Rao, special officer (epidemics), Telangana. Alarmed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) study that swine flu virus may have mutated, the officials called up National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, to confirm the situation.
“They maintained that there is no change in strain. But the tests would be conducted every week,” he said.
Earlier, most of the officials linked increased incidence of swine flu to low temperatures in winters and said the number of positive cases would come down with increase in temperatures.
However, there is only marginal decrease in the numbers. On Thursday, 49 people tested positive for H1N1, 37 on Wednesday,47 on Tuesday. Predictions going wrong made health officials restless. Only in the month of March were 1,202 samples tested, of which 438 tested positive. Also, 10 persons who were diagnosed with the infection lost life this month.