Tamil Nadu farmer dies of swine flu

The suspected death of a 70-year-old farmer from swine flu in the Tirupur region of Tamil Nadu has triggered fears of an outbreak in the state. The state’s administration and public health authorities in both districts have gone on a high alert to prevent the flu from spreading, CNN-IBN reported. The victim’s case was the fifth swine flu-related death to be recorded in Coimbatore in the last three years. [caption id=“attachment_263208” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“A 70-year-old farmer is suspected to have died of swine flu in Tirupur. Reuters”] [/caption] The victim, 70-year-old Kandhasamy, who was admitted to the PSG Hospitals had earlier visited the hospital with a respiratory ailment and high fever. However on Saturday, Kandhasamy’s condition turned critical and he was taken to the Government-run Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) at around 6.20 pm where doctors declared him “brought dead”. “The patient was brought dead to CMCH from the private hospital. He was not even admitted and no treatment was given to him at CMCH. All precautionary measures are being taken. His relatives were given tablets for preventing possible infection.” said the Collector Karunakaran and confirmed that the old farmer had succumbed to the deadly H1N1 virus. Dr S Senthilkumar, deputy director of Health Services in Coimbatore, said “Normally, H1N1 does not spread in this season. A man losing his life to swine flu during the beginning of summer is rare.” Also, keeping in mind the age of the victim he said the authorities, “…will look into his case sheet and examine if age-related complications could have compounded the infection.” Authorities in Tirupur suspect that the old farmer could have been exposed and infected with the virus during his daughter’s wedding a month ago, when guests from Bangalore came visiting.