Swine flu has killed 183 people in Ukraine this winter and is spreading rapidly across eastern Europe and the Middle East. At least 107 people have died in Russia after contracting the disease, 18 in Armenia and 10 in Georgia, according to government figures.
In the Middle East, 112 deaths from the virus have been reported in Iran and there are unconfirmed reports of dozens more deaths in areas of Syria and Iraq occupied by Islamic State.
Rates of severe H1N1 infection have spiked within the EU. Hospitals in eight countries have recorded an increase in the number of cases requiring intensive care over the past three weeks, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“Western European countries are also reporting severe cases associated with H1N1,” said Dr Caroline Brown, programme manager for influenza at the WHO inEurope. “It’s all over the region at the moment.”
Unlike other strains of the flu virus, which are most dangerous for older people, H1N1 can be life-threatening for healthy people under the age of 65. Symptoms can appear similar to the common cold and include fever, fatigue, coughing and a sore throat – but the disease can quickly lead to pneumonia if left untreated. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the 2009-10 global H1N1 pandemic caused an estimated 284,000 deaths worldwide.
Vaccination programmes and residual immunity were thought to have kept the virus under control. Experts are struggling to determine why the latest outbreak is proving so aggressive.
“The information we have so far shows the virus hasn’t changed in any significant way to make us suspect it would be causing more severe disease,” Brown said.
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