Meerut: With swine flu cases having reached a whopping 33 in just 14 days of January in the district, Meerut health department authorities say that one of the major causes behind the rising cases is epidemiological linkage.Epidemiological linkages refer to the people who get infected by the disease by coming in direct contact with the patient because he/she belongs to the same family or because they met during the infection period.According to a survey conducted by the health department in 2017, out of the 395 patients confirmed in Meerut, 80 patients were detected with the disease due to 31 linkages. In 2018, too, linkages were the main cause — five linkages led to several cases. In January 2019, out of the total 33 cases, nine patients have been detected with the diseases due to one linkage i.e. they belong to one family.Health authorities have hence asked to keep the patient concerned in isolation or else the chances of the spread of the disease increases.“A family of nine people was infected with swine flu in Meerut’s Siwal Khas because none of them was kept in isolation. In fact, on further investigation, it was found that one of the family members had gone to Dehradun and that is where he contracted the infection from,” said Meerut chief medical officer Dr Raj Kumar Chaudhary.Giving further details about epidemiological linkages, Dr Rachna Tandon, district epidemiologist, said, “In one of the cases — a three-year-old contracted the infection from his neighbours with whom he used to play with. This is just a sign that people should limit social meetings, take care of their hygiene and avoid shaking hands.”

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