# 3740
Increasingly, the evidence is piling up that this novel H1N1 `swine’ flu isn’t quite the docile virus that some people would like to believe. While the `no worse than seasonal flu’ mantra has been uttered repeatedly by public officials around the world, it isn’t always the case.
For the overwhelming majority of cases, it is true that novel H1N1 has produced mild-to-moderate illness. No worse than seasonal flu.
But for a very small percentage of cases it can have a devastating impact, rapidly causing severe lung damage leading to multi-organ failure.
Exactly why some patients fare so poorly, while the majority do well, isn’t understood yet.
Over the past several weeks, I’ve featured other stories on this phenomenon by well known science reporters like Jason Gale of Bloomberg News, and Helen Branswell of the Canadian Press. Including:
Jason Gale On The Swine Flu Mystery
Study: H1N1 Receptor Binding
Pathology Of Fatal H1N1 Lung Infections
Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor for Reuters, brings us the latest details of this still emerging story, including comments by Dr. Sherif Zaki of the U.S. CDC who yesterday stated that "This is almost exactly what we see with avian flu. This looks like avian flu on steroids."
An ominous description, but one that luckily only applies to a small number of victims.
Included in this story are reports that the virus has been found in urine and fecal samples of infected patients, which conceivably could be a factor in the way the virus is spread.
Follow the links to read this report in its entirety, there is a lot here to consider.
Swine flu deaths show this flu is different – experts
Tue Sep 15, 2009 10:40pm BST
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Autopsies on people who have died from the new pandemic H1N1 flu show this virus is different from seasonal influenza, even if it has not yet caused more deaths, experts told a meeting on Tuesday.
Americans who died from swine flu had infections deep in their lungs, Dr. Sherif Zaki of the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention told a meeting of flu experts, including damage to the alveoli -- the structures in the lung that deliver oxygen to the blood.
This in turn caused what is known as acute respiratory distress syndrome -- an often fatal development that leaves patients gasping for breath.
