Four more test positive in Sangli; schools, colleges shut

SANGLI: Sangli district recorded its first swine flu death on Sunday when a 35-year-old man succumbed to the influenza at Sassoon General Hospital in Pune on Sunday. Gauging the need of the moment, the Sangli district administration swung into action and initiated various precautionary measures to check the spread of the influenza. Meanwhile, four more people from the district tested positive for H1N1.Three of them had come in contact with the victim.
Sangli district collector Shyam Wardhane said that the victim Krishnadev Dattatray Mahajan (35) a resident of Nainainagar (Islampur) Walwa taluka, who died in Pune, had been suffering from fever, cough and throat infection from September 18.
He consulted a local medical practitioner and was later treated at a private hospital in Islampur. When his condition continued to deteriorate he was moved to the Sassoon General Hospital in Pune on September 28. His throat swab sample was sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) on the same day. The report confirmed the presence of the H1N1 virus on September 30.
"He was put on ventilator and administered Tamilfu. But, as he was a patient of asthma his condition continued to deteriorate and he later developed acute respiratory distress syndrome. He died at 11 am on Sunday," said Wardhane.
The throat swabs of 22 people, including 21 samples from Islampur and one from Miraj, were sent were sent to the NIV for testing, the reports for which came on October 3. "Of the four who tested positive, three are Mahajan's relatives and one is a 28-year-old man from Mangale village in Miraj," said Wardhane.
All the three contacts of the victim have been quarantined at the Civil Hospital in Sangli. While the man from Miraj has been quarantined at the Mission Hospital in Miraj, Wardhane added.
The civil hospitals in Sangli and Miraj, Miraj Medical College, Mission Hospital Miraj and Bharati Hospital Miraj have been designated as swine flu quarantine and treatment centres.
"We have initiated a medical surveillance of people with flu-like symptoms. Around 200 medical officers and 2,000 doctors have been roped to fight the pandemic," said Shekhar Rajderkar, dean of Miraj Medical College.
All Islampur education institutions having primary, intermediate and junior colleges have been shut for Diwali vacations from Sunday till October 25. "The semester exams will start from Octover 26, immediately after the Diwali break," said Uday Tekale, CO municipal council of Islampur.