Posted on 11/20/2009 9:20:30 AM PST by marthemaria
Scientists in Norway have identified a mutated form of the swine flu virus that is raising concern because it was found in two patients who died of the flu and a third who was severely ill with the disease, officials announced Friday.
In a statement, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said the mutation "could possibly make the virus more prone to infect deeper in the airways and thus cause more severe disease," such as pneumonia.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Commentary
D225G in Fatal H1N1 Cases in Norway?
Recombinomics Commentary 14:05
November 20, 2009
Laboratory tests from 70 patients are examined, of which eight patients have died. Total is the mutation found in five of the patients. Two of them are dead, while the other three have been hospitalized with serious illness in intensive care units.
The new mutated virus thrives further down the respiratory system than the original. It shuts down the lungs of patients, which means more severe disease than the original virus, which first affects the throat and upper respiratory tract.
Since the new virus in the lungs and is only detected in patients who have been admitted to hospital, experts expect that it is less contagious than has affected most who are infected so far.
Both the vaccine and Tamiflu as a treatment will work also for this variant of the virus, "says director Geir Stene-Larsen at the NIPH.
The above translation suggests that D225G has been found in the lungs of dead and dying patients in Norway. An investigation into the excessive H1N1 deaths in Norway had been ordered and a news conference has been called to discuss the "mutation". The description sounds like the D225G found in fatal cases in Ukraine.
More information is anticipated.
How does this square with the info this AM that people with Rhinovirus (common cold) are mistakenly being diagnosed with H1N1?
As of now, H1N1 is outdoing the common cold in certain locations. Ukraine, etc
Terrific. I have a bad cold that started in my deep chest. When Should I panic?
Info was this was happening in U.S. didn’t mention other countries. Maybe that’s the difference.
When breathing becomes difficult and the world seems clouded in a red haze.
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