To fight flu,facts not fear

calmed. Realising that it’s hard to control the spread of the contagious disease,the city is putting its bet on prevention.

It was on July 14 that the first infection was reported in the city. Students with swine flu symptoms from the Lotus division of Abhinav English Medium School started reporting at Naidu hospital. The cousin of a 16-year-old student who had participated in a youth exchange programme of the American Field Service had caught the swine flu infection and in turn passed it on to his classmates,says Dr R R Katti,a state surveillance officer who is an expert in contact tracing.

On July 21,the school was shut after 17 students reported the infection. On July 24,two more schools — Symbiosis and Seva Sadan — shut down for a week. Three days later,New India English decided to close after four students tested positive. On July 29,two more schools,Bal Shikshan Mandir and Springdale School, joined their ranks. St Peter’s School in Panchgani — a little over 100 km from Pune — is the latest to be hit,with as many as 16 students testing positive for H1N1. The first reported infections saw Pune react with fear,particularly as the most afflicted were the children. Recalls Meena Mehta,a tuition teacher who has students from all the swine-flu affected schools — Abhinav English Medium,Symbiosis,Seva Sadan and New India English: “A child in Class V sneezed and the teacher panicked. She ensured that the child who had ordinary cold remained at home for the next week… Why don’t all the schools in the city just shut down for seven days instead of all this panic?”

“Initially there was a scare,” admits Vijay Deshpande,whose daughter is studying in Standard VIII of the Abhinav English Medium School. “Few parents were really aware of the disease.” The family spent 12 days in self-quarantine. Principal of Seva Sadan School Radhika Ogale shut her school despite only one student from kindergarten testing positive. Talking about the trauma of the parents,she says: “They had to isolate him in the ward at Naidu hospital. Why put other students at risk?”

Dr Alka Chandak’s son studies in Class VIII,Symbiosis,and takes German and mathematics classes with friends from Abhinav English Medium School. It’s cross contacts between schools such as this that have helped the virus spread so far so fast. “Being a parent and doctor,I was worried. We gave the names of the children my son has contacted and were told to take home quarantine,”says Chandak.

The local administration and district health officials have set aside 40 beds at Naidu hospital and another 20 beds at Aundh general hospital. They have also ensured that medicine is easily available in tablet and syrup form.

IT firms have worked out their own guidelines. HR officials of IT companies like Tech Mahindra and Persistent Systems say that while they have not stopped employees from going abroad,the travel history of employees is being recorded and those who have returned from abroad are being urged to observe home quarantine.

Flooded with an unending stream of samples to test,the Deputy Director of Pune’s National Institute of Virology,Dr M S Chadda,says it a novel virus strain and will take some time to settle down. Director Dr A C Mishra says more than 1,000 samples have been tested in three months.

What they all emphasise though is that there is no need to panic. “H1N1 is easily transmissible but it is also a self-limiting virus. So even if daily eight to nine new patients are testing positive,there is no need to panic,” says M S Devanikar,Additional Municipal Commissioner of the PMC,who heads the newly formed joint coordination committee to contain the virus in Pune. Most of the infected cases are released within five days of quarantine at hospital,and advised home stay for a couple of days more.