What's causing the rise in Swine flu cases in Karnataka?

There has been a surprise increase in swine flu cases in the past few weeks. Health care providers say this is because of rain and low temperature.

There’s been a sharp rise in swine flu cases across the state. This year, there have been 1,985 people who’ve been diagnosed with the infection. In comparison, only 110 people were tested positive last year. For health care providers, this is a difficult situation to grapple with.

There are many reasons why swine flu cases have increased in the state but the main cause is the change in weather. According to health officials, the virus thrives when temperatures drop. The brief spells of rain in the past few weeks has been a relief for most but not for doctors.

Dr Shashidhar Buggi, Director of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases said the increase in humidity has provided an environment for the virus to survive longer and this has led to a rise in swine flu cases, reported Bangalore Mirror.

So far, there have been two deaths in the areas that fall under the BBMP. In Bengaluru Urban, 195 cases have been tested positive while Bengaluru Rural has witnessed 7 such cases. Although there have been no deaths in the city, the death toll in the Tumkur-Haveri region increased from 13 to 15.

According to Buggi, this is primarily because awareness of the infection is not wide-spread outside the city limits. He added that general physicians could control the virus if the symptoms are well-known.

How does swine flu spread?

Swine flu virus spreads from person to person while sneezing, coughing or touching the same surface as the person with the infection has touched.

What are the symptoms?

One of the main symptoms is high fever for 48 hours. Apart from this, other symptoms include respiratory illness , sore throat, coughing, sneezing, fatigue, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting.