Over the past few weeks, there has been a rise in flu cases in India which is in the grip of an influenza outbreak. H3N2 has been the dominant subtype followed by H1N1. Both these subtypes are of type Influenza ‘A’.
While India has confirmed two deaths due to H3N2 – one in Karnataka and the other in Haryana – there have been reports of another death in Maharashtra, although no confirmation was available. According to sources, a youth studying MBBS has allegedly died in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra and H3N2 virus has been found in his blood during postmortem.
The 23-year-old youth, pursuing MBBS at a medical college in Ahmednagar, had gone to Alibaug in Konkan for a picnic with friends last week. After coming from there, his health deteriorated and when he was tested, he was found to be Kovid-19 positive. After that he was admitted to a private hospital in Ahmednagar where he died at 10 pm on Monday (March 13). His post-mortem reportedly revealed that H3N2 virus was found in his blood, but there is no official confirmation about this.
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In another case, a 58-year-old woman died due to flu-like symptoms at a government hospital in Gujarat’s Vadodara city, an official said on Tuesday (Mar 14). Asked whether H3N2 influenza virus was the cause, the official said samples have been sent for testing and a review committee will ascertain the exact cause of the woman’s death. The patient was shifted from a private facility to Sir Sayajirao General (SSG) Hospital on March 11. Resident Medical Officer (RMO) of SSG Hospital, DK Helaya, told PTI that she died on March 13.
Last week, the central government had issued an alert to all the states regarding the H3N2 virus. Earlier, an 82-year-old man in Karnataka became the first victim of H3N2 virus. According to the district health officer of Hassan in Karnataka, Hire Gowda died due to the virus on March 1. PTI. He also said that Gowda was a diabetic and was also suffering from high blood pressure.