The virus causing swine flu in India since January 2015 may be a mutated strain of the swine flu virus, which caused a pandemic in the country in 2009, an MIT study has concluded. This is disturbing to note as the death toll stood at 1482 and number of affected over 26,000 early this week, according to the figures released by the Union Health Ministry.

Add to that the various misconceptions surrounding the disease, making it all the more dangerous. Awareness and avenues for proper testing are absolutely essential.

Even though swine flu has been reported in large numbers from various parts of the country, the attention it has received from the media and the government has been quite limited.

The debate on whether this new strain of the H1N1 virus is a mutation or not, will continue for a while.

But even the government should understand that properly verifying claims of a more virulent strain, is worth the lives that can be saved.