24-year-old dies of swine flu in Ahmedabad

A mentally challenged woman died from swine flu in Ahmedabad on Friday night, taking the death toll in the city to six and that of Gujarat to 36.

Nisha Deepakbhai, a 24-year-old resident of Paldi, had been lodged at the VS hospital in the city. Meanwhile, one more person tested positive for swine flu at the Smimer hospital in Surat, raising the number of positive cases in the state to 214.

“Nisha, who tested positive for the H1N1 virus, died at the Vadilal Sarabhai hospital on Friday,” a state health official said. “The patient died of respiratory failure along with bilateral pneumonia.”

According to state health officials, the victim’s health problem began in the last week of September, following which she visited a general physician. Later in the same week, she visited another doctor after her condition failed to improve. Nisha was then diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia and was admitted to the VS hospital on Friday. She was administered Tamiflu on admission to the hospital and tested positive for swine flu on Saturday.

According to a source, Nisha was mentally challenged and had no history of travelling abroad or of secondary contact with swine flu patients. “She was more vulnerable to the virus because her immunity was much lower than that of healthy people,” the source said.

Out of the 36 deaths from swine flu in Gujarat, Surat accounts for 20. Four people tested positive for swine flu on Friday. Pravin Patel was the first victim of swine flu in Ahmedabad, while Nisha was the sixth.