A 33-year-old housewife from Mumbai died today after contracting the H1N1 virus, becoming the second victim of swine flu in the country and sparking fresh concerns in Maharashtra, to which both victims belong.

As in the case of 14-year-old Reeda Shaikh, who died in Pune earlier this week, Fehmida Zubin Patanwala was diagnosed as infected by the virus only when she was critical and while she was being treated for other illnesses. Doctors are yet to determine how she contracted the virus.

Patanwala, mother of a 13-year-old boy and resident of the city’s western suburb of Versova, had a history of severe diabetes and hypertension and was taken to a local physician after she got fever a week ago. Like Reeda, she was diagnosed as suffering from bronchitis and was taken to Ruby Nursing Home in Jogeshwari when her condition worsened after four days. Patanwala’s condition, however, turned critical on Friday and she was moved to Lilavati Hospital.

But with doctors there suspecting H1N1, she was moved within three hours to the government Kasturba Hospital, which is the designated centre in Mumbai for suspected swine flu patients. Her throat swab was sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune. The test results came at about 3 p.m. today, around the same time she died.

Dr Madhavi Kelkar, who treated Patanwala at Ruby Nursing Home, said that her initial symptoms suggested bronchitis. “She was coughing and seemed to have respiratory problems. She was admitted and her treatment included antibiotics,” Kelkar told The Sunday Express.

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