Woman dies due to H1N1 after delivery

Belagavi: After claiming five lives in the state capital this year, H1N1 has claimed its first victim in Belagavi district. A woman from Akkol in Nippani taluk, died in Kolhapur town of Maharashtra a couple of days ago. Her swab test was positive for H1N1.
According to sources in the health department, the pregnant woman was admitted in a private hospital of Nippani for delivery. She underwent a caesarean section and delivered a baby.

After a couple of days, she started suffering from severe fever. When her condition worsened, she was referred to a hospital in Kolhapur where she died after three days.

The swab test conducted by the hospital has revealed she was suffering from H1N1. District health officer (DHO) Dr Appasab Naratti told TOI that the department was investigating if the woman died due to H1N1 or due to any other reason.

21 cases test positive in dist

Of the total 102 swab samples sent to Manipal Hospital for testing, 21 have turned out to be positive. A majority of the positive cases are from Belagavi and Athani taluks. Taking the issue seriously, the DHO held a meeting of medical officers on Friday to discuss about effective preventive measures.

Deputy commissioner S B Bommanhalli will also hold a coordination meeting of various departments concerned to discuss the issue.

Dr Naratti said preventive measures along with awareness programmes are being conducted with the help of Asha workers and Axillary Nurse Midwives in areas where H1N1 cases have been diagnosed. “We are telling anybody suffering from fever, cough or joint pain for 4-5 days to immediately get admitted in a hospital and get a swab test done,” he said adding that, people with low immunity, children, people suffering from HIV and tuberculosis are more susceptible to H1N1.