Even as Maharashtra witnesses a drop in COVID-19 cases, other communicable diseases are making a comeback in the state. The state has witnessed a surge in H1N1 influenza (swine flu) cases this year.

According to the state health department data, nearly 3,000 cases of H1N1 infections have been reported in the state till the end of August this year and the disease has caused 147 deaths. This is said to be the highest surge in swine flu cases in the state in the last three years.

The H1N1 flu, commonly known as swine flu, is a human respiratory infection primarily caused by an influenza strain that started in pigs.

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According to the report by the state health department, Maharashtra has witnessed a total of 1,600 swine flu cases in 2020 and 2021. Two people died from the infection in 2021, while in 2020, there were three deaths. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, 2,287 cases of swine flu were reported across Maharashtra with 246 deaths.

This year, Pune witnessed the highest number of deaths at 39. “Fifteen persons among those 39 were from Pune city while the remaining had sought treatment here but hailed from other areas,” Indian Express quoted Dr Sanjeev Wavare, assistant health chief of the Pune Municipal Corporation, as saying.

The infection claimed 15 lives each in Kolhapur, Nashik and Thane, while Mumbai saw three deaths. There were 11 deaths each in Ahmednagar and Thane.

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Doctors have warned that the full burden of H1N1 infections may yet be unknown as its surveillance and testing cannot be compared with Covid-19.