KATHMANDU: Eighteen people have died in the last four months due to influenza. Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) has confirmed that eighteen people have died due to swine flu since mid-December , Naya Patrika reported.

According to EDCD head Dr. Bibek Kumar Lal, H1N1 virus has claimed 14 in Kathmandu, 1 in Sindhuli, 1 in Pokhara and 1 in Kavre, while the identify of the other is yet to be ascertained.

According to doctors, swine flu is spread by four kinds of virus – H1N1, H1N2, H3N1 and H3N2. Among them H1N1 is the most dangerous.

Swine flu, which had been detected in a pig farm in Mexico in 2009, has spread across the globe.