A death due to the suspected mutant swine flu virus H3N2 is reported from Vadodara in Gujarat. A 58 year old woman succumbed to the suspected virus on Monday after catching the infection.

The civic authorities informed that the report of the lady was positive in a private lab. However, the authorities haven’t officially declared the cause of the death. “Once the death audit is completed, then we can confirm it as per the protocol,” Devesh Patel, Chief Health Officer - Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) told businessline.

Patel also informed that there was no reported case of H3N2 till now in the city. “So far, there was no (H3N2) case. However, we have a few reported H1N1 cases. We are monitoring the situation and will follow the seasonal flu or what we call swine flu protocol,” said Patel.

Notably, till last week, the State health department recorded three cases of H3N2 and 77 of H1N1. The State health minister Rushikesh Patel had informed that the State was prepared to tackle the influenza cases with adequate medicins and testing facilities at private and government-run labs .

Till March 10, the Union Health Ministry had recorded one death each from H3N2 influenza in Karnataka and Haryana. The Ministry had said it was tracking and keeping a close watch on morbidity and mortality due to the H3N2 subtype of the seasonal Influenza. “Young children and old age persons with co-morbidities are the most vulnerable groups in context of seasonal influenza,” it said in a statement.

According to the data on IDSP-IHIP (integrated health Information Platform), a total of 3,038 laboratory confirmed cases of various subtypes of Influenza, including H3N2 were reported till March 9, 2023 by the States. This includes 1,245 cases in January, 1,307 in February and 486 cases in March (till 9th March).

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