7-Year-Old Boy Dies Due to Swine Flu After a Transplant Surgery in Pune

A seven-year-old boy Swaraj Jagnade who was given a second chance of life by transplant surgery to cure thalassemia died due to swine flu on July 29 at Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune. Swaraj was detected with thalassemia when he was two months old in 2008. Since then, he had been on monthly blood transfusions. About four years ago doctors performed a transplant on him, which was the first case in which cord blood from unrelated donor was used. This helped him to recover from the disease.

But on july 19 2015, the boy fell ill with fever and cough for two days. He was admitted to Ruby hall clinic. Dr Vijay Ramanan, hematologist who had performed the transplant said they tried their best to treat him. Though Tamiflu tablets were given earlier the throat swab had tested positive for H1N1 on July 28. He died because of H1N1-related pneumonia and multiple organ failure.

“What can I say. It has only been a life of struggle for us. We found a ray of hope when an unrelated donor gave stem cells to treat my son. When things were looking better, swine flu snatched him away,” said Sachin, Swaraj’s father.

From January till July this year about 91 individuals died due to swine flu. This is the second case in which the victim is a child, said Dr S T Pardeshi, acting chief medical officer of the PMC.

Source-Medindia