Swine flu claimed 14 lives

The swine flu virus has claimed 14 people across India with the latest casualty being reported from Nashik on Wednesday morning.

Thirty-three-old Dr. Rakesh Gangurde, was being treated in Suyash Hospital in Nashik. He was being treated in a private hospital and was shifted in a critical condition to civil hospital at 3 am today morning.

Dr Gangurde originally belonged to Malegaon.

Now the toll of swine flu casualties in Maharashtra has touched 10 and totals upto 14 in India.

Earlier today, "29-year old Shrawani Deshpande died at around 2.30 am due to bilateral pneumonia following severe lung infection caused by the H1N1 virus," attending doctors said.

This is the seventh death in Pune.

Shrawani, a resident of Kothrud area, was admitted to Sasoon hospital in a critical condition on August 10 after being referred from Sashwat private hospital, they said.

She died barely two hours after 35-year-old Sanjay Mistry died at the same hospital. Mistry was earlier admitted in Veeramai hospital and was on ventilator support.

On Sunday night, he was shifted to Sassoon Hospital and was said to be in critical condition.

Swine flu has struck in Kerala. A 35-year-old man has become the first victim of swine flu in the southern state.

The patient, Wilson Lukose, had been admitted to a private hospital in Thiruvananthpuram.

Earlier on Tuesday, three more persons - one each in Pune, Vadodara and Mumbai - had died of swine flu and the virus spread to new areas in Jammu and Meghalaya and cast its shadow on the World Badminton championship in Hyderabad.

In worrying signs, swine flu cases crossed the 1,000 mark as the Centre and the states intensified their battle against the infection. Private hospitals in Mumbai stepped in to offer treatment to ease the burden on the government hospitals.

Scores of schools across several cities were also shut.

The Centre dispatched central teams to all states and Union Territories after Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad chaired a meeting of 35 additional secretaries and joint secretaries drawn from various ministries who would fan out to the states. He also spoke to all Chief Ministers over the last 24 hours and told them to step up preparedness.

Vadodra recorded its first swine flu victim when a seven-year-old girl Arya Borde, who was in a critical condition, died, SSG Hospital Medical Superintendent Atul Saxena said. This was the second H1N1 fatality in Gujarat.

A fifth death was registered in Pune, the epicentre of the H1N1 virus accounting for a quarter of all infections, after a 13-year-old girl Shruti Gawade, a student of Ahilyadevi school, succumbed to the virus infection.

Sayeeda Dorheewala, a 63-year-old woman from Mumbra in Thane district, died in a private hospital at Byculla to become the second victim in the western metropolis. Health officials said H1N1 was not the primary reason for her death.

In Hyderabad, the World Badminton tourney was hit by the swine flu scare with a Malaysian coach being quarantined in a government hospital after showing influenza-like symptoms.

A MBA girl studying in Pune and a 17-year-old boy who came from the UK tested positive for swine flu in Jammu and Shillong respectively.