Swine Flu Epidemic in India.

ABSTRACT

This year swine flu (caused by H1N1 virus) has affected over 34,000 people in India so far, out of whom over 2,100 died, as per the figures collected by Union Health Ministry till April 2, 2015. According to researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the strain of H1N1 virus, which is responsible for the current epidemic, is a mutated virus of 2009 strain, in which the hemagglutinin protein has undergone mutations. One of these mutations has been linked to increased severity of disease (explaining the increased mortality) and another one to its increased infectivity (explaining the large numbers of cases). Fortunately, the two swine flu vaccines (one parenteral and other nasal), currently available in India, have addressed these mutations and are fully effective.