Two die of swine flu, nationwide toll rises to 76

Swine flu deaths continued unabated with a 44-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man  succumbing to the virus in Delhi and Bangalore, pushing the pandemic toll to 76 as 137 more contracted the infection across the country.

A resident of Faridabad, Usha Jain, who had tested positive for flu, passed away this morning in government-run RML Hospital, its Medical Superintendent N K Chaturvedi said. This is the third flu death in Delhi.      

"Her condition was very critical from day one of her admission to the hospital. She had suffered three cardiac arrests and her BP could not be maintained at the normal level despite medication," he said.

Jain, who suffered from fever, breathlessness and joint pain, was admitted to the hospital on August 21. She was immediately shifted to the ICU and put on a ventilator.

"She had not taken any medication even after eight days of showing the symptoms. She went to a private hospital for medication and that too in the last minute when her condition had worsened," Chaturvedi said.

In Bangalore, Siddarraju, who was admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases on August 21, was in a critical condition and died because of the disease on Sunday night, health officials said today. He had also tested positive for chikungunya, they said.

As many as 137 fresh cases of swine flu were reported from various states since Sunday evening taking the total number of those afflicted by the virus to 2,909, Union Health Ministry officials said in Delhi.

With the two deaths, the flu toll across the country has mounted to 76.      

Of the fatalities, Maharashtra accounts for 40 — 23 in Pune, eight in Mumbai, five in Nashik, two in Aurangabad and one each in Dhule and Latur.

15 people have died in Karnataka, seven in Gujarat, three each in Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Delhi and one each in Kerala, Goa, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Haryana.