1. Recombinomics - Ukraine fatalities jump to 827,. 100,000 new cases in one day
Ukraine Fatalities Jump to 827 - 100K New Cases in One Day
Recombinomics Commentary 13:20
January 6, 2010
3,905,542 Influenza/ARI
225,925 Hospitalized
827 Dead
The above update is from the Ukraine Ministry of Health. The 24h increases included 22 more deaths and over100,000 new cases. Much of the activity is in the eastern half of the country, with the biggest increases in cases, 6,563 to 343,583, and deaths 5 to 113 in Donetsk. However, Kiev had a large increase in cases , 4,945 to 327,003 and deaths, 3 to 40), and there were another 4,355 new cases in the surrounding Kiev oblast (see updated map)..
Media reports have described a deteriorating situation in Donetsk, with severe cases and fatalities in doctors and health care workers. Yesterday’s report had an increase of 8 fatalities in Donetsk, and today’s total of 113 is well ahead of Lviv, which has 102 fatalities and had been the highest oblast prior to yesterday.
New sequences from Russia, Turkey, and Sweden highlight changes at position 225 and early sequences from Ukraine had D225G or D225N in all fatal cases. These same changes have now been reported in fatal cases in Russia, which continues to raise concerns that such sequences may become more widespread.
Release of additional sequences from fatal cases in Ukraine, including multiple samples from collections from different tissues would be useful.
2. in remarkable coincidence, CDC hopes to prevent repeat of 1958 mortality surge
Jan 7, 2010 (CIDRAP News) – Warning against complacency about H1N1 influenza, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said she doesn’t want to see a repeat of what happened in 1957-58, when a perception that the pandemic was over was followed by a winter surge of flu- and pneumonia-related deaths.
To prevent that, Schuchat, head of the CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, urged the public to get the vaccine, now widely available. …Schuchat referred to a graph showing that deaths attributed to flu and pneumonia peaked in October of 1957, dropped back to a nearly normal level in December, but then surged again in the winter, peaking in late February. (Accounts of the pandemic say the second mortality peak, strangely, was not accompanied by widespread flu outbreaks.)
“In 1957 they essentially gave the all-clear whistle in that December-January time period,” Schuchat said. “They had vaccine, but they didn’t encourage its use, and they did go on to see that increase in mortality.”
She cautioned that no pandemic is the same as any other, adding, “I do not know that the 1957 story is what we’re looking at today, but I do know that we have vaccine and we don’t have to repeat history.”
“The H1N1 virus is still circulating,” she said. “We have an uncertain future. We want and need to avoid complacency.”
