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Commentary
Total Destruction of
Lungs
in Ukraine Fatal H1N1 Cases
Recombinomics
Commentary 04:22
November 9, 2009
The above translation is from an announcement today from the Ukraine Ministry of Health describe 90 fatalities (see map) associated with community acquired pneumonia. The full report included the age distribution, which exactly match distribution reported previously by other countries for swine H1N1. 52/90 fatalities were in the age group of 19-40, followed by 26/90 in the 41-55 age group.
Coughing up blood followed the "total destruction" of lungs again gives a clinical picture of hemorrhagic pneumonia caused by H1N1 swine flu.
However, although the 90 recent fatalities described above are clearly due to H1N1, many reports continue to cite a low number of H1N1 lab confirmed cases, which is more reflective of limited testing than actual cases.
Earlier reports cited pneumonia deaths not associated with the influenza/ARI category and the basis for the classification of approximately half of such deaths into a separate category remains unclear.
The above description of these fatalities increase the need for the immediate release of sequences from H1N1 isolated from the lungs of these fatal cases.
Samples were sent to Mill Hill a week ago and only a minimal description (no "large" changes and no anti-viral resistance) of the sequence data. As the number of reports of sequences with receptor binding domain changes in isolates from lungs of fatal H1N1 cases increase, the need for full and rapid disclosure of sequences from large outbreaks such as the one in Ukraine become a major health care imperative.
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