The industrial city of Pimpri-Chinchwad reported its first H3N2 influenza death Thursday (March 16). A 73-year-old man from Bhosari area, who was undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) for the last four days, died at civic-run Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital in the afternoon.
Dr Rajendra Wable, dean of the YCM Hospital and Medical College, said the elderly citizen was admitted to the hospital on March 7. “He suffered from fever and other symptoms which were similar to Covid. The severity, though, was not like Covid. However, he was a comorbid patient. He primarily had a lung infection as well as heart ailment,” said Dr Wable, adding that the H3N2 report of the patient was received on March 10.
Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Singh, too, said the patient had lung problems when he was admitted and later, his report from National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, confirmed he had H3N2.
In the Maharashtra Assembly on Wednesday, Health Minister Tanaji Sawant said two suspected H3N2 deaths were reported in the state so far.
“Two persons have died due to influenza, including a 23-year-old first-year student of MBBS in Ahmednagar. He tested positive for Covid-19 as well as H1N1 and H3N2 viruses. Another victim is a 74-year-old man from Nagpur, who died of H3N2,” Sawant told the Assembly.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recently announced that the uptick in the cases of intense cough lasting for over a week, coupled with fever, in several parts of India, can be linked to the Influenza A subtype H3N2 virus.
What is the H3N2 virus?
Influenza viruses, which cause the infectious disease known as flu, are of four different types: A, B, C and D. Influenza A is further classified into different subtypes and one of them is the H3N2. According to the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), H3N2 caused the 1968 flu pandemic that led to the death of around one million people globally and about 100,000 in the US.
What are the symptoms of H3N2?
Its symptoms are similar to that of any other flu. They include cough, fever, body ache and headache, sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose and extreme fatigue. Nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea have been seen in very few cases.
According to the Indian Medical Association, an infection caused by H3N2 generally lasts for five to seven days and the fever starts going away after three days. However, the coughing can persist for up to three weeks.
