Swine flu scare rises as 41 fresh new cases recorded

HYDERABAD: 41 fresh swine flu cases were detected by the Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) on Saturday, taking the total toll from January 1 to 1080 cases in the two states. In Andhra Pradesh, the death toll stands at 5 whereas in Telangana it is 48.

Recent affected cases include a 50-year-old doctor from Shadnagar in Mahbubnagar district hospital, who is now admitted in Gandhi hospital. Despite the temperature hovering over 17 degree Celsius, the rising number of positive cases in the last one week has left experts confounded.

Dr K Narasimhulu, swine flu nodal officer at Gandhi Hospital, while underscoring the need for research in this area said that there is a strong reason to believe that the H1N1 virus is slowly turning into thermophilic (an organism that can thrive in high temperature) in nature due to changes in their life cycle.

The IPM detected a whopping 249 positive cases, when the recorded minimum temperature was found to be in between 17 to 19 degree Celsius in the last one week from 8-14 February.

However, the principal secretary of Telangana issued the health bulletin on Saturday, stated that the number of positive cases reported in the last six days till 13th February showed decrease in intensity.