With increasing number of swine flu cases from the previous 48 to 150, the health ministry in Nepal on Tuesday sounded its first alarm for the pandemic swine flu adding the actual number could be still higher since outbreaks in remote villages would not be reported immediately.

 

The ministry disclosed the increasing number of swine flu cases as two women died of swine flu this month, the first reported death in Nepal after six month of H1N1 influenza reports in Nepal.

 

Among the two women, one aged 31 from Chitwan died on Dec 5 after remaining at the intensive care unit of the Janamaitri Hospital in Kathmandu for 25 days while the other from Bhaktapur district died on Dec 24 at Bir Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal's oldest hospital.

 

The names of both victims remain withheld on the request of the respective families. The capital city Kathmandu has been the worst hit by the virus, accounting for 35 of the 150 reported cases.

 

32 cases of the pandemic are reported in the district of Kaski, a popular tourist destination while Chitwan situated along the Indian border reports of  23 cases.

 

Six more districts have been confirmed the occurrence of swine flu, including Lalitpur in Kathmandu valley, another popular tourist destination, and in the districts of Ilam, Sunsari and Morang which are located along the India-Nepal border

 

In the face of raising number of swine flu cases, Nepal is badly equipped to deal with the disease with just one laboratory in Kathmandu where confirmatory tests can be carried out.

 

Most of the patients are male aged between 15 and 45 years with 106 cases which is around 60 percent. However, the ministry said that over 99 percent of the cases were mild in nature and the patients are treated immediately.

 

The first case of swine flu was reported in June when three members of a Nepali family coming from the US tested positive at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.

 

Subsequently, though mass outbreaks were reported in the western districts of Parbat and Baglung last month, no deaths were reported.

 

In the light of swine flu deaths crossing 880 in neighbouring India, Nepal, which has hundreds of migrant workers, is apparently living with the fear of mass infections recalling the spread of HIV and AIDS to the landlocked republic from India in the past.

 

It is also reported that villages along the Indian border force sick people out of their homes fearing they might have contracted swine flu during their stay in India.