Swine flu 'dangerous only for certain categories of people': J.P. Hospital

The government-run Jai Prakash Hospital in Bhopal has said that swine flu is dangerous only for those people who fall under certain medical categories, while it is not threatening for the majority of those infected.

"All the patients until now fall under the 'B' category of swine flu, which is not that critical. 'A' category patients have also come to the hospitals frightened of being affected by the disease and we have provided medicines to reassure them. Until now, 38 patients have been admitted and only two have been critically affected by swine flu," Dr. AK Shukla of the hospital said.

"The Bhopal Sub-district magistrate was also affected with the 'A' category of swine flu. But since he wanted to take the medicine, we did provide them the same. People are scared of being affected and everyone wants to be reassured," he added.

Explaining the different categories, Dr Shukla said that the 'C' category, which is the most dangerous, are those people with pre-existing medical conditions or are otherwise vulnerable.

"People should also be aware that swine flu is dangerous to a patient, only when he or she falls in either the 'B' or 'C' category. The category includes people like pregnant women, cancer and diabetes patients, those less than five years old and the aged. Others, according to me, should not be much bothered much," Dr Shukla said.

The number of deaths due to swine flu has been massively increasing. Recently, more than 10,000 have been found affected by swine flu with over 700 deaths registered so far.