The swine-flu epidemic continues to march on loftily in the city of Hyderabad with as many as 41 cases reported positive on Saturday.
In the last week, 249 positive cases have been detected. What is maddening to see is the absolute lack of information which the doctors seems to have about the reasons for the virus.
Initially, swine-flu was attributed to the extremely low temperatures prevalent in the city. But of late, there has been a rise in the city temperature with 17 degrees Celsius to 19 degrees Celsius becoming the norm now. Yet, contrary to what has been told earlier, a rise in mercury has not seen a decline in fresh cases. In fact, there is an increase!
“There is now strong reason to believe that the H1N1 virus is slowly turning into thermophilic (an organism that can thrive in high temperature) in nature due to changes in their life cycle," said Dr K Narasimhulu, swine flu nodal officer at Gandhi Hospital, while underscoring the need for research in this area.
If it is any consolation to the people of Hyderabad then it is the fact reported by the officials that the new cases are showing decrease in intensity.
