A 23-year-old pregnant woman hailing from Dhule, who had tested positive for H1N1 virus, died on Thursday at city?s JJ Hospital, a day after she delivered a baby there. following the death, the doctors have said that pregnant women should especially be cautious as they fall under the high-risk group.

?The immunity levels in such women are already compromised owing to their pregnancy. they should be careful and should stay away from anyone who shows flu-like symptoms such as cold or cough. in case, they start showing symptoms themselves, there should be no delay in starting a treatment before the situation gets aggravated,? said Dr Abhay Chaudhary, director of Haffkine?s Institute.

Chaudhary said that testing for the flu is not necessary and people can start taking Tamiflu as a preventive measure on showing flu symptoms. Mumbai has seen 14 positive cases of swine flu over the past one month.

Meanwhile, public health minister Suresh Shetty said there are no reports of mutation in the H1N1 virus but promised to launch an extensive awareness drive at railway and bus stations Speaking in the Legislative Council, Shetty said National Institute of Virology, Pune and CMC, Vellore have not reported any mutation in the strain of the virus. He said there was stock of 1.8 lakh Tamiflu tablets in Mumbai and 11.5 lakh tablets in rest of Maharashtra.

Asked about the availability of swine flu vaccines in the state, Shetty said the Centre had supplied vaccines to medical practitioners and the use of vaccine was not recommended for general public. ?The vaccine is effective for eight to ten months,? said Shetty.

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