The residents of provisional State capital Dehradun and nearby areas have come under twin attack of Dengue and Swine flu. The District Health Department fighting a grim battle on the front of Dengue has came into an alert mode on Swine flu as two patients have been detected with the disease. These women patients are at present admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Himalayan Hospital, Jolly Grant and are said to be out of danger.

Alarmed by presence of two patients of swine flu in Dehradun, teams of Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) visited their houses. The teams thoroughly examined the family members of the patients for symptoms of flu.

The Deputy Chief Medical Officer (Dy CMO) of Dehradun, Dr Dayal Sharan confirmed that the swab samples of these two patients have shown presence of H1 N1 virus.

He said that the health department has come on an alert mode on the disease and medical officers have been asked to be cautious on suspected cases of the disease. Dr Saran added that all the hospitals have adequate supply of Tami flu (medicine of swine flu) and triple layer masks.

He said that the disease spreads by droplet infection so people should cover their nose and face with handkerchief while sneezing or coughing and should regularly wash hands and face.

Swine Flu

Swine flu is a viral disease, its virus is also called H1 N1 and its genetic analysis has shown that it has originated from the animals specially pigs hence it is called Swine flu. The virus spreads from person to person similar to that of seasonal influenza.

Categories of Swine flu

The swine flu patients are divided into three categories. In 'A' category patient suffers from mild fever and irritation in throat. The patients of this category should be isolated at home and require no test or medication.

The patients of 'B' category are characterised by high fever and the patient need isolation and should be administered Oseltamivir (Tami flu) medicine.

The medical experts are of the view that if a patient is suffering from breathlessness, low Blood Pressure along with symptoms of A and B category than he is put under category 'C'. Such patients should be isolated, hospitalised, should be administered Tami flu and needed to be tested for swine flu.