Of the 185 deaths due to the H1IN1 virus in Maharashtra, 119 persons were from the age group of 16-45 years and Tamiflu was not given in 17 cases. In its analysis of the number of H1N1 deaths between August-October this year, the Directorate of Health has pointed out that there was a time lag between the onset of illness and date of admission of the patient to a hospital in a majority of the cases.

Pune city recorded the maximum number of H1N1 deaths — 39— while there were 27 deaths in the rural outskirts of Pune district. There were eight deaths in Pimpri-Chinchwad and Ahmednagar while 23 deaths occurred in the Bombay Municipal Corporation areas and 22 in Nashik. A total of 109 patients were from the urban areas while 76 hailed from the rural areas.

As many as 94 of the deceased were women and 91 were men. 22 were in the age group of 0-5 years while 11 were in the age group of 6-11 years. The remaining 32 patients were in the age group 46-65 years and one patient was over 60 years.

Dr Ashok Mehta, joint director of health services, said 46 of these patients had died at Pune’s Sassoon General Hospital while 12 had succumbed to the virus at YCM Hospital in Pimpri. A total of 23 patients had died at the district hospital at Nashik, he said.

According to the report, there was a time lag of eight days between the onset of illness and date of admission to the hospital in the case of 27 patients; four days in the case of 38 patients and five days in the case of 34 patients. 36 patients died within a day of admission to the hospital while 26 died after eight days in hospital.

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