Health services fully prepared to prevent outbreak of Swine flu, says don't panic

James Kh *

Main symptoms of swine flu in humans :: Pix - Wikipedia/Mariana Ruiz Villarreal

The situation of the confirmed H1N1 infected lady is stable and is undergoing treatment says Okram Ibomcha Director Health Services in a press meet held today at the Directorate Office, Lamphelpat.

Another man from Kabo Wakching was suspected, his sample was sent for test yesterday. He is out of danger as he has not shown symptoms for the last 24 hours. We have been campaigning through media advertisement about swine flu in TV, Radio and Newspaper since the last month as a part of the intervention program

In Manipur, we have enough medicine in stock including - Tami flu, vaccines for the high risk groups and health workers, mask or personal protection. We have tip top isolation ward at JNIMS and RIMS with full facility including ventilator care. In the State, we have 24/7 monitoring Cell including the cells in the entire districts.

In district hospitals, we have arranged isolated rooms and when the patient gets serious they will be shifted to isolation wards at RIMS and JNIMS. People should not fear or panic. Swine flu gets cured without even getting detected in most cases. Moreover, we have enough medicine if treatment is needed continued the director.

From today, we have resume office, we have cancelled the holiday. All the officials of Health Services have started working and we are doing our best to prevent an outbreak says Okram Ibomcha, Director Health Services.

District wise Monitoring Cell Helpline for Swine Flu

State – 977406980/8974166851

Imphal East – 8415913585/9089141406

Imphal West – 9436892444/9089330595

Ukhrul – 9612991480

Thoubal – 8258094629

Chandel – 8974604224

Senapati – 8414974785

Tamenglong – 9436683196

Bishnupur – 8132816081

Churachandpur – 9862830156/8259970317

More vulnerable to swine flu

"Five years and below children, 65 years and above people, Immune suppressed person, organ transplanted person, PLHIV with less CD4 count, people with lungs ailment or heart ailment.

Out of 100 infected cases, 85 percent gets cured in the early stage with. So far out of 100 people infected swine flu, 2 person's dies on an average. It is not like EBOLA which has 80 to 90 percent death rate. According to the guidelines of Government of India, we do not need to go for screening at the border town, or the airport as it is not practicable", says Okram Ibomcha, Director Health Services.

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
Seasonal Influenza A (H1N1)

Guidelines on categorization of Seasonal Influenza A H1N1 cases during screening for home isolation, testing, treatment and hospitalization (Revised on 11.02.2015)

In order to prevent and contain outbreak of Influenza-A H1N1 virus for screening, testing and isolation following guidelines are to be followed:

At first all individuals seeking consultations for flu like symptoms should be screened at healthcare facilities both Government and private or examined by a doctor and these will be categorized as under:

Category- A

o Patients with mild fever plus cough / sore throat with or without bodyache, headache, diarrhoea and vomiting will be categorized as Category-A. They do not require Oseltamivir and should be treated for the symptoms mentioned above. The patients should be monitored for their progress and reassessed at 24 to 48 hours by the doctor.

o No testing of the patient for H1N1 is required.

o Patients should confine themselves at home and avoid mixing up with public and high risk members in the family.

Category-B

(i) In addition to all the signs and symptoms mentioned under Category-A, if the patient has high grade fever and severe sore throat, may require home isolation and Oseltamivir;
(ii) In addition to all the signs and symptoms mentioned under Category-A, individuals having one or more of the following high risk conditions shall be treated with Oseltamivir:
o Children with mild illness but with predisposing risk factors.
o Pregnant women;
o Persons aged 65 years or older;
o Patients with lung diseases, heart disease, liver disease, kidney disease, blood disorders, diabetes, neurological disorders, cancer and HIV/AIDS;
o Patients on long term cortisone therapy.
o No tests for H1N1 is required for Category-B (i) and (ii).
o All patients of Category-B (i) and (ii) should confine themselves at home and avoid mixing with public and high risk members in the family.
o Broad Spectrum antibiotics as per the Guideline for Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) may be prescribed.

Category-C

In addition to the above signs and symptoms of Category-A and B, if the patient has one or more of the following:
o Breathlessness, chest pain, drowsiness, fall in blood pressure, sputum mixed with blood, bluish discolouration of nails;
o Children with influenza like illness who had a severe disease as manifested by the red flag signs (Somnolence, high and persistent fever, inability to feed well, convulsions, shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing, etc).
o Worsening of underlying chronic conditions.

All these patients mentioned above in Category-C require testing, immediate hospitalization and treatment.