Photo:indiatimes.com

New Delhi(People's Daily)-The number of H1N1 cases, or swine flu in India has risen 20-fold in India this year from last year, Indian health authorities said.

The latest report of India's Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDPS) shows there are 37,848 cases in 2017 compared to only 1,786 in the country in 2016.  The report added that 8,543 people have died for lack of an effective treatment or vaccine between 2010 and October 2017.

The report shows that 114,000 people were infected by H1N1 in the past seven years,and Maharashtra state was the worst hit with 716 deaths out of 23,812 cases, followed by Gujarat (18,206 cases, 431 deaths) and Rajasthan (13,158 cases, 235 deaths). Sikkim and Lakshadweep are the only two areas that have remained untouched by H1N1 cases in the past seven years. In 2017, four states and Uttar Pradesh have not seen a single case of H1N1 so far.

The highest incidences in the past seven years were recorded in 2015 (42,592 cases, 2,990 deaths).“At present, the vaccine which we are administering to our population is about 60% to 70% effective against the virus. It has a seasonal pattern and an inherent quality of shifts and drifts in its properties.  That's why we don't have a very effective vaccine against it,"said Dr. Pradeep Khasnobis, chief medical officer and national programme officer in Delhi.

Officials said India has also identified the new Michigan strain of the H1N1 swine flu virus this year.