India, Odisha : Nurse dies of dengue in Angul

Via The Statesman :

" Angul district reported its first dengue death today with a nurse of MCL central hospital succumbing to the mosquito-borne disease while undergoing treatment at a private clinical establishment in Bhubaneswar.

Forty-five year old, Sema Manjari Sahu, was found dengue positive about 20 days ago and had been shifted to Bhubaneswar immediately.

According to chief of the central hospital Mr S Shukla here, her condition had deteriorated with failure of kidney and other vital organs. The end came this afternoon.

The victim belonged to the Bonai area of Sundergarh district.

Meanwhile, her death spread panic in the industrial town. Angul district counts for the second highest district-wise tally of dengue patients."

India : Bird Flu outbreak feared in Kulti

Via The Statesman :

" Nearly 500 chickens died in the Kulti area of Asansol in three days spreading apprehension of Bird Flu outbreak in the area.

Locals witnessed chickens dying in poultry farms, domestic places since Sunday in the Patiyana Mahalla area under ward number 25 of the Kulti Municipality.

Mr Selim Akhtar, the ward commissioner, said: “The successive deaths of the birds have raised the apprehension whether it was Bird Flu.” He said: “I have informed the matter to the Asansol sub-divisional administration."

Study : Antibiotic resistance killing thousands in India

Via The Statesman, excerpt :

" Pneumonia still causes an estimated 410,000 deaths in India each year, and is the number one killer of children. Lancet has reported an estimated 371,605 deaths in Indian children under the age of five in 2008. These figures highlight that there are still substantial barriers to antibiotic access in India.

In fact, people living in developing countries like India, South Africa and Kenya have the highest burden of bacterial infections, including antibiotic resistant infections driven by excessive and inappropriate antibiotic consumption, according to the Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership (GARP), a project of the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP).

Antibiotic resistance, or a bacteria’s ability to survive antibiotic treatment, is highly prevalent in developing countries of South Asia and Africa. In fact, bacterial disease burden in India is among the highest in the world, said a GARP study conducted as a situation analysis on antibiotic access and resistance in India."

Pakistan : Dengue fever deaths rise to 12 in Karachi

Via The Statesman :

" KARACHI : The number of dengue induced deaths has risen to 12 in Karachi, Dr. Shakeel Mallick, In-Charge, Dengue Fever Surveillance Cell told APP on Monday.

He said the sudden increase in the number of deaths that till last weekend was six was because one of the city's prestigious hospital reported very late the six "dengue" deaths it had experienced between the months of April to September.

"They had the seventh death on Friday and this was communicated to the health department's surveillance along with previous six on Saturday only," he said.

Dr. Mallick regretted that many of the private sector hospitals, despite frequent reminders, do not cooperate with the cell as probably they preferred not to publicize deaths been registered by them on daily basis.

He agreed that some of the hospitals also lacked the culture of audit under which data must be compiled about patients admitted, their respective nature of ailments, recovery as well as mortality rates."

India : Swine Flu claims first victim in state

Via The Statesman :

" KOLKATA, 20 JULY: Swine Flu claimed its first victim in the state with the death of Asit Dutta (58), who was suffering from multiple myeloma (a type of cancer), for three months. He was admitted to a private hospital on 15 July with fever, dry cough and breathing problem and was put on ventilation on 17 July.Two more positive cases of Swine Flu was reported in the city today and they were quarantined at Beliaghata ID Hospital.

Although Dutta's condition had initially improved, later he was again admitted at the hospital as his condition turned critical. On Sunday morning his throat swab sample was collected and sent to National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICED), but late that evening he died. Health officials said he died due to Swine Flu.

Dr Asit Biswas, state nodal officer, said as Dutta died due to Swine Flu necessary disinfection measures have been taken in the hospital. His close relatives and the nursing staff of the hospital who had looked after him have been given chemo-prophylactic treatment."

India : Swine flu returns to Andhra, two fresh cases in Hyderabad

Via The Statesman :

" HYDERABAD, 19 JUNE: Swine flu has returned to haunt Andhra Pradesh with two fresh cases reported in Hyderabad today, health officials said.

One person was admitted to Government Chest Hospital and the other to Gandhi Hospital with symptoms of swine flu. The officials have not given the details of the patients.

The fresh cases were reported a day after a 32-year-old man, undergoing treatment since 14 June at a private hospital, died of swine flu in the port city of Visakhapatnam yesterday. Relatives of the deceased said he had gone to east Godavari district for a function last week, where he developed swine flu symptoms.

This is the first swine flu death in the state this year. The first case of swine flu this year was reported last week, when a 21-year-old pregnant woman from Medak district tested positive.

Following the fresh cases, health authorities in the state have gone on alert to take precautionary measures to check swine flu. As many as 54 people died of swine flu in the state last year. Nearly 800 cases were reported. The first swine flu case in India was detected at Hyderabad airport on 16 May last year. Most of the deaths were reported in September-October."