Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:
(a) whether his Ministry maintains data for the H3N2 virus, which is a common and widely spreading form of influenza in India;
(b) if so, the details thereof indicating the cases detected and deaths reported due to such disease since 2009, State/UT-wise and year-wise; and
(c) if not, the reasons therefor?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND
FAMILY WELFARE
(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)
(a) to (c): Influenza, commonly known as the “flu”, is an acute infection of the respiratory tract caused by influenza viruses. Influenza A (H1N1) virus, now a seasonal influenza virus co-circulates with other seasonal viruses (namely influenza A (H3N2) and influenza B viruses). Government of India does not specifically maintain country-wide case data of H3N2 virus.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is actively involved in monitoring and controlling the seasonal influenza cases in the country. A network of 12 laboratories under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) is dedicated in its efforts for supporting the influenza surveillance and testing by Real time RT-PCR. In addition, another network of laboratories (VRDL labs) under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is also providing facilities for diagnosis and research for influenza in the country. Most of the labs in these networks are testing and carrying out surveillance for seasonal influenza A (H3N2) in addition to Influenza A H1N1.
The laboratories send their data to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and IDSP, where the data is compiled and analysed for cases confirmed in the laboratories’ network. Data of seasonal Influenza A H3N2 from laboratories under the IDSP lab network for the last 3 years is given in Annexure.
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