Hummingbird News Desk
NEW DELHI, 10 MARCH: India is currently facing an outbreak of seasonal H3N2 influenza, with 3,038 laboratory-confirmed cases reported across the country, according to the Union Health Ministry. The most vulnerable groups are young children and the aged with co-morbidities, and two deaths have been reported from Karnataka and Haryana.
The Ministry is closely monitoring the situation in various States/UTs through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) network on a real-time basis, as well as tracking morbidity and mortality due to the H3N2 subtype of seasonal influenza.
State surveillance officers are fully geared to meet this public health challenge, and such cases are expected to decline from March end. A near real-time surveillance of cases of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) presenting in OPDs and IPDs of health facilities is undertaken by the IDSP, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The latest data available on IDSP-IHIP (Integrated Health Information Platform) indicates that a total of 3,038 laboratory-confirmed cases of various subtypes of Influenza, including H3N2, have been reported till 9th March 2023 by the States. This includes 1,245 cases in January, 1,307 in February and 486 cases in March.
The IDSP-IHIP data from health facilities indicate that during the month of January 2023, a total of 397,814 cases of Acute Respiratory Illness/Influenza Like Illness (ARI/ILI) were reported from the country, increasing slightly to 436,523 during February 2023. In the first 9 days of March, this number stands at 133,412 cases.
The corresponding data for admitted cases of severe acute respiratory illness is 7,041 cases in January, 6,919 during February and 1,866 during the first 9 days of March. The Health Ministry has reported a total of 955 H1N1 cases in February this year, with the majority of cases reported from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, and Punjab.
Seasonal influenza is an acute respiratory infection caused by influenza viruses, which circulate in all parts of the world, and cases are seen to increase during certain months globally. India witnesses two peaks of seasonal influenza every year, one from January to March and the other in the post-monsoon season. The Ministry has urged people to take necessary precautions, including getting vaccinated, to protect themselves from seasonal influenza.
Tags: #SeasonalInfluenza #H3N2 #NCDC
