Three people have tested positive for H1N1 infection at SMHS Hospital here in the past 24 hours, while number of patients diagnosed with the influenza continues to rise in Kashmir, as the cold wave continues.
At SMHS Hospital, three patients have been admitted for influenza since Sunday. Officials at the hospital said that the patients, two elderly and one young, have tested positive for H1N1 influenza. “The serology tests have confirmed that the patients have H1N1 viral infection,” the official said.
Medical superintendent SMHS Hospital, Dr Saleem Tak, confirmed that three patients had been isolated at the hospital with influenza. “The patients are being provided treatment in our isolation ward,” he said. He added that one of the patients was critical. “He might need life support,” he said. The other two patients, he said, “were doing fine”.
Dr Tak said that the hospital was “fully equipped” to handle the cases. “Our staff has been provided personnel protection gear and have been vaccinated, we have adequate medicines and testing facilities as well,” he said.
At Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), hospital administration said, on an average 5-7 people are tested positive for influenza every day. “The numbers are constantly going up,” a SKIMS official said. He added that as the cold wave swept Kashmir, there was a hike in number of patients testing positive for “H3N2” influenza.
The total number of positive cases this season has been around 100, the SKIMS official said.
In the last week of December, two patients positive with H3N2 had lost life at SKIMS. One of the deceased was an elderly male, the other an 18 year old, otherwise healthy youth. Scores of patients, with severe symptoms have been admitted at the hospital this season.
In the last flu season, between October 2017 to February 2018, over 30 people had lost life to influenza at SKIMS.