BHUBANESWAR: Even as swine flu cases are on the rise, the State on Wednesday recorded first dengue death of the season leaving health officials on tenterhooks. The victim, a 35-year-old man, died while undergoing treatment at SCB Medical in Cuttack.
Sources said the deceased, a native of Bihar, had come to the port town of Paradip a few days ago. He was admitted in the SCB Medical in a critical condition on Tuesday. As his condition deteriorated, he was shifted to the ICU where he succumbed to the disease.
Nodal officer for dengue at SCB Dr C B K Mohanty said the patient was very serious and his platelet count was low. “He was kept in life-support system. We suspect he was carrying the virus from Bihar and must be suffering from fever for more than a week or more,” he said.
Meanwhile, a 79-year-old woman became the latest victim of H1N1 on Wednesday, taking the toll to four in the State.A native of Jagatsinghpur’s Tirtol, she was admitted to a private hospital on August 1. The Health department said the woman had a history of cardiac complications which included a left ventricle failure apart from coronary artery disease.
All the four swine flu deaths have been recorded in the last one week while transmission of the viral infection has continued unabated. On Wednesday, 12 more cases tested positive out of 27 samples, which were sent for investigation.
So far, 71 H1N1 positive cases have been reported in the State in the current season. In the last nine days, at least 64 fresh cases have cropped up. The transmission rate, particularly, has been alarming since out of 257 samples which have been tested this year, at least 27 per cent have tested positive.
Of the 12 persons who tested positive on Wednesday, 10 are admitted to private hospitals of the City. Two of them are admitted to SCB Medical in Cuttack. Seven of them are male.
Although children below five and ageing persons are considered vulnerable, many of the patients are found to be young. At least six patients are in the age-group of seven to 35.
Seven of them belong to Khurda district, two from Cuttack and one each from Jajpur, Sundargarh and West Bengal.Meanwhile, the Health department has received at least 25,000 Oseltamivir, 500 N-95 masks and as many numbers of Oseltamivir syrup bottles and PPE kits.