Keeping a close watch on seasonal influenza situation in the country: Union Health Ministry

NEW DELHI: With monsoon season round the corner, the Union Health Ministry on Monday stated that it is keeping a close watch on the seasonal influenza situation in various States/UTs through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) network on a real-time basis.

"Union Health Ministry is keeping a close watch on the seasonal influenza situation in various States/UTs through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) network on real-time basis. Young children and old age persons with co-morbidities are the most vulnerable groups in the context of seasonal influenza," according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) release.

"As of now, there has been no abnormal, alarming rise in cases of seasonal flu in any part of the country," the Union Health Ministry said.

The Union Health Ministry, after a video meeting with ICMR officials and experts about the detection of a virus in US cattle and milk, advised maintaining good hygiene to prevent virus spread.

"In view of various reports in media regarding detection of avian influenza virus in cattle and milk in various States of USA, a video conference under the chairmanship of Director General of Health Services was conducted on April 28, to review the current situation of Seasonal Influenza with the State of Maharashtra in which Animal Husbandry Commissioner, Officers from ICMR Headquarters, ICMR-NIV Pune, CSU IDSP, State Surveillance Unit, District Surveillance Unit, Nashik and Health officials from Malegaon participated," it said

"It was informed by the experts that, with the use of proper hygienic practices such as boiling of milk, proper cooking of meat at adequate temperature would help in preventing the virus transmission from the product (if the virus is present) to the human beings," they said.

The Health Ministry announced plans for real-time surveillance of influenza-like illness cases through a nationwide network of labs under ICMR.

"A near real-time surveillance of cases of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) presenting in OPDs and IPDs of health facilities is undertaken by Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) through the ICMR network of laboratories across the country," Ministry said

The Guidelines on Seasonal Influenza have been provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) based on the categorization of patients, treatment protocol, and guidelines on ventilatory management for the States/UTs which are also available on the websites of the Ministry (www.mohfw.nic.in) and NCDC (ncdc.mohfw.gov.in).

MOHFW has also advised the state governments to vaccinate healthcare workers dealing with H1N1 cases.