Covid-19 in States with High Swine Flu Rates

• 05 May 2020

Why in News

Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi and Tamil Nadu account for about 70% of India’s confirmed Covid-19 cases till now.

• Data from the Health Ministry’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), show that these are also the states which consistently accounted for the majority of Swine Flu (H1N1) cases, since 2015.
• The NCDC recorded Swine Flu cases this year as well as part of India's Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.

Key Points

• Data History of Swine Flu
  
  • 2019: Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi and Maharashtra accounted for 54%.
  • 2018: Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat accounted for 65%.
  • Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are among India's most populous states and see intense migration to other states for work still they have not been in the top list always.
• Parallels between Covid-19 and Swine Flu
  
  • Both are caused due to pathogens that trace their origins to viruses from non-human hosts even though they belong to different families.
    
    • Both respiratory viruses that spread through contact.
  • Both infiltrate the lungs and cause characteristic pulmonary infections but they have varying lethality.
    
    • Swine flu infections have a higher case fatality rate (deaths per confirmed cases) and can cause significant deaths in children as well as those less than 60.
    • Covid-19 is relatively more dangerous to those above 60 and almost harmless in children.
      
      • However, due to lack of sufficient research, it cannot be said which age group is safer or not.
  • High number of Covid-19 and Swine Flu cases have been observed in Gujarat and Maharashtra.
    
    • The relative dominance of these diseases can be attributed to the migration for work.
• Observations
  
  • February-March are typical months for influenza (viral infection of upper or lower respiratory tract) in India.
  • Most influenza activity in northern India has been seen during the summer months but in southern and western India, cases occurred mostly during winter months.
  • According to scientists, due to the novel nature of Covid-19, the possibility of another spike later in the year cannot be ruled out.
  • For Swine flu, this year there is an exceptional rise in testing and active surveillance across states otherwise only few states have the infrastructure and system to actively report cases.
    
    • Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have 50 testing laboratories each for Covid-19 many of which are also deployed for Swine flu.

Swine Flu

• It is caused by the swine flu virus, the H1N1.
• It is an infection of the respiratory tract characterized by the usual symptoms of flu like cough, nasal secretions, fever, loss of appetite, fatigue and headache.
• It is called swine flu because in the past it was known to occur in people who had been in the vicinity of pigs.
• The virus is transmitted by short-distance airborne transmission, particularly in crowded enclosed spaces. Hand contamination and direct contact are other possible sources of transmission.

Source: TH