Pune: The countrywide swine flu toll has now touched 19. Pune reported its 11th fatality today. Thirty-seven-year-old Archana Kolhe died at the city's Sasson Hospital. She was being treated there since August 10. She had been put on ventilator after being diagnosed with acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Karnatak reported its first death due to swine flu on Thursday. A young lady teacher died at St. Philomena's Hospital in Bangalore. Doctors said she did not seem to be suffering from any other medical complications.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has reassured the country, saying the Centre and the states are doing whatever is possible.
On Wednesday, Pune had reported its 10th fatality due to the disease. Three people died in the city and a doctor died in Nasik.
While a 48-year-old died in the evening, 41-year-old Balu Kulund died at the city's Sasson Hospital.
Kulund was admitted to the hospital at 4.30 am on Wednesday after being shifted from a private hospital. He was in a critical condition and put on ventilator.
Earlier, on Wednesday morning, Dr Rupesh Gangurde died in Nasik, becoming the first victim of swine flu in the city. He was admitted to the Nasik General Hospital in a serious condition with pneumonia. Earlier, he was treated at a private hospital in Nasik. The doctor was on Tamiflu since August 10. He had come to Nasik from Malegaon.
There was another death in Pune. Shrawani Deshpande, a 29-year-old woman died at Sassoon hospital early Wednesday morning. She was brought to the hospital in a serious condition with pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
On Tuesday, five people died of H1N1, the highest in a single day so far. All of them had complications and developed acute respiratory distress syndrome
What makes diagnosis difficult
In what could throw the medicos in a tizzy is a report in a leading US newspaper, which says swine flu may not always be accompanied by fever.
In fact, in a significant number of documented cases, no temperature has been recorded even after some patients deteriorated.
So absence of fever can lead to wrong diagnosis, and underestimation of total number of confirmed cases.
Also, screening at airports will have limitations, as a flu carrier without fever will go undetected through thermal scanners.