Chennai, August 10: In the first swine flu fatality in Tamil Nadu, a four-and-a-half-year-old boy died of the H1N1 virus while his 11-year-old brother tested positive for the infection, prompting health officials to start screening their neighbours. Apprehending spread of the virus, schools in the vicinity declared a holiday for about a week even as 52 people have tested positive in the state so far.
Sanjay B, who was hospitalised on August 7 in a critical condition and tested positive, died this morning, following multiple organ failure, hospital sources said. He was on ventilator support.
The boy”s blood pressure and pulse started to deteriorate “drastically” and he succumbed to the disease, said Dr N Prahalad, who attended on him at Mehta Hospital. Health Secretary V K Subbaraj told PTI that 40 of 52 confirmed cases reported have been treated and discharged and the rest were undergoing treatment.
The number was likely to go up with more suspected cases being admitted at hospitals in Chennai, Tiruchirappalli and Coimbatore today. “The boy had been suffering from asthma for the past two years and died of multiple organ failure today,” he said.
Sanjay is the youngest and sixth victim of the virus in India.
—PTI–