Why Pune is H1N1 Ground Zero

NEW DELHI: Even as the swine flu storm rages through India, Pune is taking the worst battering. Almost 65% (14 out of 22) of the H1N1 deaths in India have been in the city. Nor is it looking any better now after the first rash of cases.

In fact, Union health ministry officials fear ������ clusters of H1N1������ are emerging in the city, which means that large groups of people from certain localities could start getting infected even if they don���t have any travel history.

The larger question ��� raised by both officials and ordinary people ��� about this localized crisis is: why Pune? What went wrong there for the flu infection to virtually spin out of control? The answer lies in a combination of reasons that includes administrative lapse as well as some climatic features peculiar to Pune.

According to scientists from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, the state government failed in the early stages to put in place an effective ������contact-tracing programme��� ��� ��� that is, tracing down each and every person who has come in contact with those who tested positive.