The Deaths of Four Ukraine Doctors Raising Suspicions of a
Cover-Up in The Ukraine
Four doctors died of flu in Ukraine's Ternopol and Lvov regions,
Health Minister Vasily Knyazevich said at the Sunday meeting of
the operative headquarters for the prevention and treatment of A/H1N1
flu.
The above comments describe the death of four health care workers
(HCWs) at two sites in western Ukraine. The government website
shows a total of 53 deaths (see map),
which is quite low if four HCWs have already died. HCW are trained
in methods to minimize infections from parents, and they are likely
to get prompt medical attention, yet four have already died. These
numbers add to the confusion in Ukraine.
Initial reports denied the outbreak was due to H1N1 even though
there was virtually no seasonal flu circulating in Europe (or
North America). The explosion in cases of acute respiratory illness
(ARI), in view of the exploding H1N1 pandemic throughout the northern
hemisphere, would signal involvement in the cases in Ukraine.
The number of fatalities suggests that most ARI cases are swine
flu, because in some instances the number of fatalities is between
0.5 and 1% of listed influenza cases. The ARI cases are 10-20
fold higher, which would significantly lower the Case Fatality
Rate (CFR), but even with the listed ARI cases, the CFR would
be alarmingly high. Thus, the number of ARI cases may be higher,
or the virus is producing a significantly higher CFR.
Even after H1N1 was confirmed in influenza and ARI patients in
western Ukraine, Kiev was still maintaining that the cases there
were not H1N1, even though 300,000 doses of Tamiflu are scheduled
to arrive today, and a WHO
investigative team is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.
The denials of H1N1 in obvious cases raise concerns that the
number of fatalities is markedly higher that the 53 acknowledged,
especially when 4 of the 53 are HCWs.
More details on the HCW deaths and on those hospitalized would
be useful.
