Comments
Seasonal influenza cases reported from across the country are expected to decline by end-March, the Union Health Ministry said, as the country reported two deaths in Karnataka and Haryana from the H3N2 strain.
The ministry was keeping a watch on the situation through its Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) network on a real-time basis. Morbidity and mortality due to the H3N2 subtype of the seasonal Influenza was being tracked, it said, adding that young children and the elderly with co-morbidities were the most vulnerable.
Seasonal influenza is an acute respiratory infection caused by influenza viruses which circulate in all parts of the world, and cases increase during certain months globally. India witnesses two peaks of seasonal influenza, Jan to March and the other post-monsoon, the Ministry said.
The ministry has provided guidelines on the categorization of patients, treatment protocol, and guidelines on ventilatory management to the States/UTs. Oseltamivir, the drug recommended by the World Health Organization, is made available free, through the public health system, it said, adding that the Centre had allowed sale of Oseltamivir under Schedule H1 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act in February 2017 for wider access.
Tomorrow, the NITI Aayog will hold an inter-ministerial meeting to review the situation, it added.
A near real-time surveillance of cases of Influenza like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) presenting in out-patient and in-patient departments of health facilities is undertaken by the IDSP, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Lab-confirmed cases
A total of 3038 laboratory confirmed cases of various subtypes of Influenza including H3N2 have been reported till March 9, 2023 by the States. This includes 1245 cases in January, 1307 in February and 486 cases in March (till March 9), the note said, quoting data available on the IDSP-IHIP (integrated health Information platform).
Further, it said, IDSP-IHIP data from health facilities indicated that during January, a total of 397,814 cases of Acute Respiratory Illness/Influenza Like Illness (ARI/ILI) were reported from the country that increased to 436,523 during February, 2023. In the first nine days of March 2023, this number stands at 133,412 cases, the note said.
The corresponding data for admitted cases of severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) is 7041 cases in January 2023, 6919 during February 2023 and 1866 during the first 9 days of March 2023, the note added.
In 2023, (till 28th February), a total of 955 H1N1 (avian flu) cases have been reported. And a majority of them were reported from Tamil Nadu (545), Maharashtra (170), Gujarat (74), Kerala (42) and Punjab (28).
Surveillance network
Influenza-related data is culled from a structured ILI/SARI surveillance network of 28 sites. The surveillance network comprises 27 DHR-ICMR’s virus research and diagnostic laboratories, besides the country’s National Influenza Centre (WHO-NIC) housed at Pune’s ICMR-National Institute of Virology, also a WHO collaborating centre for Global Influenza Surveillance & Response System (GISRS), the note said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.