South-East Asia Regional Conference on Epidemiology

272 | <strong>South</strong>-<strong>East</strong> <strong>Asia</strong> <strong>Regional</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> on Epidemiology
10. Involvement of other sectors
A multisectoral approach was adopted to control the pandemic in which various agencies likeEmergency
Medical Relief, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries and the National Disaster
Management Board were involved.
11. Vaccine policy
The Government of India is procuring vaccine for use among health care workers.
12. Drug-resistance monitoring
India is monitoring drug resistance on a regular basis but no drug resistance has been reported till
date.
H1N1 epidemic situation in India
In India, 29 652 laboratory-confirmed cases of H1N1 and 1372 deaths have been reported so far.
NCDC had tested 28037 samples till 3 March 2010, of which 6827 were positive for influenza AH1N1.
Testing of ILI cases was done only for severe cases, i.e. category C severe cases admitted to hospitals,
so the data does not represent the entire population.
An analysis done according to age- and sex-wise distribution of H1N1-positive cases tested
atNCDC revealed that the majority of cases occurred in the 10-15-years age group, and males were
affected more than females, as shown in Fig. 2. The samples tested at NCDC revealed that out of the
total 28073 samples tested till February 2010, 6827 were positive for H1N1, showing a positivity
rate of 24.3% as shown in Fig. 3 . Fig. 4 shows the phylogenetic analysis of the test samples with A/
California/04/2009 virus using Neighbour Joining method in MEGA 4.1 Software.
Conclusion
In India, the H1N1 disease is on the decline and regular monitoring and surveillance of unusual flu
like illness and severe pneumonia are being continued across the country. Regular and continuous
surveillance will facilitate timely detection of pandemic virus and implementation of control measures.
This pandemic has given an opportunity to strengthen national surveillance and build core capacities
in accordance with the International Health Regulations. This has also provided the country a unique
opportunity to be ready for any future pandemics of influenza A.
Acknowledgement
We are grateful to all staff members of the Microbiology Division and Disease outbreak Monitoring
Cell , NCDC, Delhi.