Friday, October 30, 2009

New Version of Flu in the Ukraine?

Disturbing news out of the Ukraine of a new viral pneumonia -

As the number of sick persons increases, the authorities describe the situation as rather serious, says Ternopil oblast chief medical officer Bohdan Onyskiv.

“In all, 262 patients are treated in hospitals, of these 16 in serious condition. !* children have died in rural areas and 70 in Ternopil,” he says.

Onyskiv confirmed that they died from viral pneumonia.

Another city:

“We have sent the analyses to Kyiv. We don’t believe it’s the swine flue. Neither do we know what kind of pneumonia it is,
Borysevych stressed. Viral tests can last from one to two weeks. They are complicated and not done in Lviv. The course of the disease was very quick. The symptoms included very high temperature and short-wind cough.

The disease started as an ordinary chill with headache and temperature. The symptoms lasted for a week before patient condition began to aggravate.

And in another city:

All the six dead young people had symptoms of severe hemmorhagic pneumonia. The disease starts slowly, with temperature rising to 37.2 – 37.3 degrees, slight cough and pain in joints. Nasal catarrh developed at the end of the second or third day. Autopsy revealed that the lungs were soaked with blood, the oblast chief specialist said.

Could this be the dreaded mutation that would be the real pandemic? Only time will tell.