Srinagar, Feb 14: Director SK Institute of Medical Sciences Dr Showkat Zargar Thursday said there was no need to panic on the Swine flu reports in Kashmir. He urged people not to misconstrue the pandemic with common respiratory diseases. 
 In a statement, Dr Zargar said: “For the past few days there has been an increased media attention to the heightened activity of flu related illness in Kashmir Valley that has created panic among people from all walks of life.”
 “In this connection, SKIMS would like to clarify that increased respiratory infections are routine in winter months as is common knowledge. Nearly every house has one or the other member affected by a respiratory infection, sometime during winter months. Influenza viral infection is just one such virus and as a matter of routine, we have increased influenza infections during these months in temperate climate areas,” Dr Zargar said. 
 He said these infections must have been prevalent previously also. “But we are aware only because of the available testing facilities that help us to institute treatment if needed. The attention of the people is also drawn to the fact that flu related illness are prevalent throughout Europe, America and Northern and western India. In fact the country has witnessed many deaths in other states but the state of the matter in Kashmir is not alarming and very few patients with swine flu were seen in this winter,” Dr Zargar said.
 Elaborating, he said, the Swine flu also known as Pandemic flu is mostly a self-limiting viral illness that results in fever and upper respiratory symptoms. “Generally no treatment is required and only sick patients need to be admitted. The high level of pandemicity attributed to H1N1 infection in 2009 was struck down long back. However, routine infection control measures need to be adopted for any febrile respiratory illness which include social distancing, rest, reducing contact with fellows and adequate cover of cough/sneeze,” he said.
 “The mode of spread is by droplets and simple measures outlined above are effective in containment of the infection. There is simply no reason to panic. This is true of influenza as of any other respiratory infective illness,” Dr Zargar added.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 14 Feb 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 14 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 15 Feb 2013 00:00:00 IST