Swine flu reach in Delhi

Is Delhi losing the battle to contain swine flu? The statistics are certainly taking on an ominous hue. A new case of H1N1 influenza
was confirmed in the Capital on Sunday, taking Delhi's total number of swine flu cases to 22.Cases in Delhi now significantly outnumber Hyderabad, which has 15 confirmed cases and was initially said to be the hub of swine flu in India. Of the six human-to-human transmission cases reported in the country, five are in Delhi.
Sunday's case is of a 15-year-old boy, who traveled from New York to Delhi, and is admitted in Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital at present. Of the 22 confirmed cases in Delhi, 13 are undergoing treatment at various government hospitals. "There are eight patients in RML, three in Airport Health Organisation Hospital and two in Deen Dayal Upadhayay Hospital," said Dr Anjan Prakash, additional nodal officer for H1N1 influenza, Delhi government.
What's worrying is the sharp rise in the number of confirmed H1N1 influenza cases reported in the city in the last few days. The Delhi government's health department has now intensified its screening and contact tracing drive.
According to Delhi health minister Kiran Walia, "Delhi is one of the main cities in the country. We get a lot of people from abroad and generally people are traveling. Another reason for the sudden increase in the number is that we are doing aggressive contact tracing of people who have tested positive for H1N1 influenza. We had examined eight relatives of a 35-year-old woman, who tested positive, and had admitted four of them as they were showing flu-like symptoms. Four people from that family tested positive. All were human-to-human transmission cases. Once a case is tested positive, we sending our teams to track all the possible family members who had come in contact with the patient."
The health department has also intensified its public awareness campaign and is training more-and-more government hospital doctors to pick up H1N1 influenza in the initial stages. "There was a case reported from Tihar jail who was admitted in DDU hospital two days back. The man had traveled from US and was showing flu-like symptoms. He tested negative, but the doctor in jail was prompt enough to send him to our facility for testing. We are telling doctors to send patients to designated hospitals in case they come across any such patient. We are taking all measures to contain the spread of this infection," said Walia.