Chennai: Pune has seen four people die and Mumbai and Ahmedabad one. On Monday, four-year-old Sanjay Balakumar died at a private hospital in Chennai.
The devastated family has not only to deal with the shock of Sanjay's loss: his brother has also tested positive and their father is thought to have been the carrier.
Five schools have closed for the week and the Tamil Nadu government has called for a high level meeting on Tuesday.
Swine flu deaths in India have slowly started rising. In Chennai, a four-year-old boy died of the virus at a private hospital on Monday morning.
Panic now seems to be spreading across the city. Five schools have closed for a week. The Tamil Nadu government has called for a high level meeting on Tuesday.
Victim's timeline:
How sanjay died
- Suffering from Asthma
- Hospitalised for diarrhoea
- Friday: Condition worsened
- Kidney, Liver fail
- Put on dialysis and ventilator
- Saturday: Tests positive for H1N1
Sanjay was asthmatic and doctors feel that may have made him more vulnerable. A fortnight ago, he had been hospitalised for diarhoea.
But on Friday, his condition worsened. The little boy was then shifted to another private hospital with kidney and liver failure. He was put on dialysis and on a ventilator. On Saturday, he tested positive for swine flu.
"Swine flu was a reason for the septic shock. It spread so rapidly that it led to multi organ failure," said Dr N Prahalad, paedaetrician, Mehta's Hospital.
While Sanjay did not travel to any swine flu affected country, his father had recently returned from Singapore. Doctors believe he could have been harbouring the virus.
There's more bad news for Sanjay's family. His 11-year-old brother has also contracted the H1N1 virus. The father is awaiting test reports. The panic stricken school where he was a kindergarten student as well as 10 others in the vicinity including prominent ones like Sishya, have closed for a week.
With 42 confirmed swine flu cases in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has convened a high level meeting on Tuesday to chalk out the state government's strategy.