Genetic Mutation in H1N1 virus; India still to Import Vaccine

It would seem that the H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine for India is doomed to simply go round in circles without any resolution, with the general populace going through the entire second wave of flu this winter without any options of a vaccine.

The indigenous swine flu vaccine is still several months away, and the government has yet not resolved the issue of importing the vaccine from other countries. The talks seem stuck at the point of clinical trials for the Indian markets, raising apprehensions about whether the vaccine will be redundant by the time it actually arrives in the country.

On Friday the Union health minister Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad trotted out the same statements that we have been hearing for months now, about import of the vaccines and their release into the Indian market.

“The Government is exploring the possibility of importing the H1N1 vaccines and anticipating early release of foreign made vaccines,” Azad told Lok Sabha during Question Hour yesterday as reported here.

Although talks have been on literally for months, the issue of testing the vaccines for the purpose of use on the Indian population is still stuck at the same point and studies that will determine this outcome are still not underway.

Meanwhile the issue of genetic mutation of the H1N1 virus which may possibly make it resistant to currently available treatments for combating it, continues to worry experts.

However, according to this Indian Express report, the virus has as yet not shown any resistance to Tamiflu; so that the genetic mutation should not be considered to be very significant. According to Dr V M Katoch, Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research, the mutation was not of public health importance. While the mutation is not significant in itself the priority for controlling swine flu continues to be early detection of and proper treatment of the infection, limiting the possibility of escalation of the infection by possible complications.

Yesterday, 8 more deaths resulted from swine flu in India, and the total death toll from the virus in the country has gone up to 683. Three deaths each were recorded from Gujarat and the national capital, while one case each was reported from Uttarakhand and Maharashtra, according to this Hindustan Times report. Maharashtra, continues to top the list with 238 deaths due to the flu. In Gujarat there have been 55 deaths, 39 have died in Delhi and 9 have died in Uttarakhand. It is now expected that the number of deaths resulting from the virus will now go down.

There were 343 new cases reported that tested positive for the swine flu infection taking the total number of people affected to 21,272. Out of the newly reported cases yesterday, 250 of the cases were reported from the national capital Delhi, 158 of those reported being children.  The total number of positive cases in the capital now stands at 7,019. New cases were also reported from Haryana (39), Maharashtra (23), Karnataka (17), Gujarat (4) and Goa (1).

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