Date:15/09/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/09/15/stories/2009091554730100.htm
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H1N1 gets more virulent
‘Virus not giving any chance to doctors to treat patient’
HYDERABAD: The H1N1 virus, imported to Hyderabad from overseas, is showing signs of getting ‘mutated’ into a more virulent form. Clinical observation of experts in the State capital indicate that the genetic make up of H1N1 virus has ‘changed’ and is now more ‘potent’ after coming into contact with the local existing viral forms.
This is the ‘second wave’ of swine flu virus, coinciding with the rainy season, which is still active. There is a possibility of onset of a third and more virulent form in the upcoming winter season. The virus is getting more ‘time’ to stay in the atmosphere because of low temperatures, experts opine. A pattern, among the fatalities has been detected. “Patients are dying within 24 to 48 hours after getting infected with H1N1. The virus is not giving any chance to the doctors to treat the patient. That’s why we are losing patients who have good immunity,” said Gandhi Hospital Superintendent E.A. Ashok Kumar.
Between May and August, when H1N1 virus was imported from other countries, it did not cause severe illness to patients. “These days, the patient’s condition is deteriorating within 24 hours. There is a definite shift in the genetic make up of the virus. It might have genetically changed after coming into contact with local influenza virus,” Superintendent of Chest Hospital S.V. Prasad.
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Video: Caller Blows Whistle: Alleges Bird Flu Virus Transported in Trucks
The caller claims to have been in touch with a truck driver, working on contract for the Department of Homeland Security. He was getting paid $ 5,000 a load for trucking bird flu vials to various destinations within the US. All of the deliveries were allegedly made at night, and the trucks were all escorted by armed undercover ex-cops/private security. Many of the loads allegedly were either picked up or dropped of at underground missile silos.
This truck driver further claims he was paid at a Bank of America branch in a back room. He anonymously gave a number to the bank and was paid in cash on the spot. Many of the truck driver’s deliveries were extremely mysterious in nature. He was often told to drive an empty truck from one location to another and then was stopped at a random site and led down a private road to a drop off point (many of which were underground missile silos) so if interrogated he could not divulge sensitive information.