Last week, samples from patients who had died were sent by the WHO to facilities in the U.K. for analysis. The delay of the release of these results is raising concerns that either the H1N1 swine flu has mutated or that the epidemic in Ukraine is being caused by something else entirely. This comes at a time when the number of patients in Ukraine reporting flu-like symptoms has reached almost a million, and as reports come out that Russia, Belarus and Bulgaria are also on the verge of a major flu epidemic.
The situation in Ukraine seem to get more dire by the day, and things don't appear to be any better now that the latest numbers from Ukraine have been released. At this point, 969,247 people are reported to be sick with flu-like symptoms, 48,972 people have been hospitalized, and 155 people have died. The severity of the outbreak in Ukraine compared to what is happening in the rest of the world has many health experts speculating that either the H1N1 swine flu virus has mutated or that another disease such as pneumonic plague is involved.
But now many of Ukraine's neighbors are reporting that they are on the verge of a "flu epidemic" themselves....
*Russian Chief Public Health Official Gennady Onishchenko said on Friday that most Russian regions are on the verge of a flu epidemic.
*In recent weeks, the Belarusian capital of Minsk has seen an estimated 10 deaths from pneumonia that was preceded by flu-like symptoms.
*A national swine flu epidemic has been declared by the Health Ministry in Bulgaria on the grounds that the number of people that have contracted the H1N1 swine flu has reached 210 per 10,000.
Disturbing reports are even beginning to surface in western Europe. In Austria, special army units based in Korneuburg, the exact same place where Baxter has its facilities, have been conducting pandemic emergency exercises and quarantining patients in hospitals. Are they expecting something to happen?
The latest video update on the situation in Ukraine from Russia Today is posted below.....
The release of the genetic sequences from the patient samples in Ukraine is now way overdue, and the fact that the WHO is delaying the release of this information is increasing pandemic concerns. Are they trying to hide something? Are they hoping not to panic the public?
The reality is that if the samples show that the H1N1 swine flu virus has mutated, people all over the globe need to know as quickly as possible. Any needless delay about a change in the disease could cause thousands of preventable deaths.
In any event, the events in Ukraine during the past week have certainly been the most alarming since the H1N1 swine flu virus surfaced last spring. To hear of large numbers of victims dying with lungs that had been filled with blood and that looked like they had almost melted is more than a little disturbing. Hopefully the WHO can get us some honest answers as quickly as possible.
