Ukraine Dead Increase to 328 – Still No Sequences! Ukraine H1N1 Sequence Changes Raise Concerns!

• The number of people reported hospitalized yesterday rose from 2,464 to 5,200. This is bad news, it is reverting to the 4,000-5,000 hospitalizations a day. So, the severity of this infection as measured by hospitalization is still very bad. We can expect the number of deaths to rise and it will be some time before the death rate of 10-20 per day comes down. I wonder how the hospitals are coping? 
    
  Ukraine Dead Increase to 328 – Still No Sequences
  Recombinomics Commentary 19:17
  November 17, 2009
   
  1,457,564 Influenza/ARI  (+56,565)
  83,526 Hospitalized  (+5,200)
  328 Deaths  (+13)
   
  The above numbers are in the latest update from the Ukraine Health Department and include 13 more deaths.  Although the number of deaths has decline slightly from the prior two days, the increase in cases and hospitalizations suggest the decline in deaths may be temporary.  The largest increase in cases was again in Kiev (5522 to 109,676) and two other eastern oblast (see map) had daily increases of more than 4000 cases (Dnipropetrovsk and Denetsk).  The steady rise in deaths continues to increase concerns over an H1N1 genetic change leading to an increase in lung disease such as those described earlier.
   
  WHO came out with a situation update which provided little specific information beyond earlier reports that the H1N1 did not have large changes.  However, the new update did indicate that WHO regional centers in London and Atlanta were still investigating isolates, suggesting there have been sequences changes that are not fully characterized.
   
  Recently released swine H1N1 from other locations have included receptor binding domain changes at position 225 (D225E, D225N, D225G) as well as 226 (Q226R) raising concerns that similar changes in Ukraine cold lead to the high frequency of fatal lung infections (Q226R has been seen previously in human H5N1 as well as H3 isolates from swine, ducks, and seals).  The new update did not address receptor binding domain changes or other SNPs that could have significant effects on the pathogenicity of the virus. Therefore, the release of sequences and comments on receptor binding domain changes would be useful.
    
  Ukraine H1N1 Sequence Changes Raise Concerns
  Recombinomics Commentary 13:17
  November 17, 2009
   
  Preliminary tests reveal no significant changes in the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus based on investigations of samples taken from patients in Ukraine. Analyses are being performed by two WHO influenza collaborating centres as part of the global influenza surveillance network.
   
  Preliminary genetic sequencing shows that the virus is similar to the virus used for production of the pandemic influenza vaccine, reconfirming the vaccine’s efficacy at this time.
   
  A total of 34 samples were analysed independently by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, Mill Hill in London, UK, and the WHO Collaborating Centre for the Surveillance, Epidemiology and Control of Influenza in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
   
  The above WHO comments from the latest update on sequences from isolates from Ukraine (see map) raised additional concerns.  Earlier comments indicated that there were no “large changes”, which simply meant that there was no significant reassortment with other influenza viruses, such as seasonal flu, and the constellation of genes was unchanged (5 swine, 1 human, and 2 avian). 
   
  However, the comments did not rule out small changes, such as receptor binding domain changes seen in other swine H1N1 isolates such as D225E, D225N, and D225G.  The latter two changes were of concern because they had recently been isolated from Sao Paulo fatal cases, and three of the four isolates with D225N or D225G were found in lung samples, which were of conern because of reports of total destruction of lungs in Ukraine..
   
  The recent comments from WHO stating that sequences are “similar” to other sequences does not rule out receptor binding domain changes, and such changes were not denied, as was done previously with H5N1 sequences from patients in Pakistan, which again raises concerns that the sequences from Ukraine do have receptor binding domain changes.
   
  Such changes could affect transmission or tropism and could also affect the vaccine reactivity.  The involvement of the CDC in Atlanta, as well as Mill Hill in London suggests the isolates were tested against the current vaccine, which would again suggest that there were sequence differences, but that the differences did not significantly reduce titers against reference anti-sera. 
   
  However, the involvement of the CDC would also raise questions about antiviral resistance which would be addressed in biological testing, which would be more sensitive that sequencing, which would be more prone to miss minor populations.  The antiviral concerns have been also increased, due in part to the recent announcement of a cluster of H274Y patients in Scotland.
   
  It has now been over two weeks since samples were sent to WHO collaborative center(s) and full sequences have been generated.  The absence of any statement on the presence or absence of receptor binding domain changes continues to raise concerns that such changes are present in the Ukraine sequences and these sequences affect transmission or tropism. Release of the sequences is long overdue and such a release would end speculation about the significance of such changes. 
   
• See also:
   
  Ukraine Dead Increase to 299 – Still No Sequences! WHO Evades Ukraine Sequence Questions at News Conference.
  British Scientists Testing Ukrainian ‘Super Flu’ That Has Killed 189 People!
  Dr Deagle: News Blackout in MSM on Ukraine Mystery Flu!
  Ukraine Flu Outbreak: Virus Is a Mixture of H1N1 and Parainfluenza, Causes Cardiopulmonary Failure! Indicates BioWeapon?
  Ukraine: Million Hit By ‘Plague Worse Than Swine Flu’!
  Doctors Learned Why Ukrainians Are Dying!
  Population Reduction: Globalist Endgame Begins? Is Ukraine Pandemic the Trigger?
  Baxter Admits Contaminating 72 Kilos of Vaccine Material with H5N1 Bird Flu Live Virus!
  Live Avian Flu Virus Placed in Baxter Vaccine Materials Sent to 18 Countries
  Has Baxter International Released a Biological Weapon in Ukraine?
  Baxter Files Swine Flu Vaccine Patent A Year Ahead Of Outbreak
  US government gives Baxter, Novartis legal immunity in advance for any injury and death caused by H1N1 vaccine this autumn
  Journalist Files Charges against WHO and UN for Bioterrorism and Intent to Commit Mass Murder
  WHO: Ukraine Could Face Second, Longer Bout of A/H1N1 Flu! 
  Ukraine Exploiting H1N1 For Political Aims?
  WHO Silence on Ukraine Sequences Raises Pandemic Concerns!
  Reported Ukraine Cases Top One Million – 174 Fatalities!
  Ukraine: Clinical Examination of 90 Patients Who Died of Pneumonia
  1918 RBD Polymorphism in Ukraine H1N1?
  Warning – Has Pneumonic Plague Hit Ukraine?
  Possible Ukraine H1N1 Genetic Changes in RBD Raise Pandemic Concerns!
  About A Million Ukrainians Infected with Mystery Flu?
  Interpol’s September 2009 BioTerrorism Exercise for the Black Death Plague !
  Slovakia Tightens Border With Flu-Hit Ukraine!
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  Withheld Ukraine Sequences Raise Pandemic Concerns! National H1N1 Epidemic Declared in Bulgaria!
  Joseph Moshe Warning on Ukraine Bio-Engineered Flu Virus?
  Ukraine’s Pneumonic Plague: A New Strain of Flu Many Times More Lethal Than H1N1? 
  Ukraine Deputy Minister of Health: Swine flu May Have Mutated! Pneumonic Plague?
  Pneumonic Plague Drill Held in Illinois ! 
  Reported Mystery Flu Cases in Ukraine Rise To 871,037 Infected – 39,603 Hospitalized and 135 Dead! Martial Law and Mandatory Vaccination?
  WHO Continues To Deceive: Assumes That Ukraine Plague Is H1N1 Swine Flu?
  Flu Epidemic Claims 109 Lives in Ukraine! 
  Infected. Flu Fears Spread From Ukraine To Afghanistan !
  Ukraine Flu Outbreak Worries EU Neighbors!
  Spanish Doctor on Engineered Viruses And Depopulation!
  Reported Cases in Ukraine Double in Two Days!
  Ukraine Mystery Flu Update 5 November 2009
  Ukraine Hemorrhagic Pneumonia Deaths! Belarus H1N1 Deaths Raise Concerns!
  Minister Says Ukraine Flu Epidemic To Create Emergency in Hungary!
  2nd Generation Killer-Flu Tested in the Ukraine ?
  WHO Targets Hemorrhagic H1N1 Cases in Lviv Ukraine! Has it Spread to Belarus?
  Panic in Ukraine Over Mystery Flu!
  Ukraine Mystery Flu OutBreak!
  Has Baxter International Released a Biological Weapon in Ukraine?
  Ukraine: What Deadly Virus is Gripping the Nation? Pneumonic Plague? Typhus ? Ebola? 

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