Israel has conducted renewed military sweeps this month of parts of northern Gaza where it had declared the end of major operations in January
world13 hours ago
Scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and New York City’s chief medical examiner’s office examined microscope slides of tissue from 34 people who died of pandemic swine flu earlier this year.
They found “a spectrum of damage in both the upper and lower respiratory tracts,” said Jeffery Taubenberger, one of the researchers on the study.
In all cases, the upper respiratory tract — the trachea and bronchial tubes — were inflamed and sometimes severely damaged.
In 18 cases, or more than half, damage was seen lower down, in the finer branches of the bronchial tubes, and in 25 cases, or nearly three-quarters of the study sample, the researchers found damage to the small globular air sacs, or alveoli, of the lungs.
“This pattern of pathology in the airway tissues is similar to that reported in victims of both the 1918 and 1957 influenza pandemics,” said Taubenberger, a virus specialist at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
But it differed from seasonal flu, which “causes most damage in the trachea and the bronchial tree, not deep in the lungs,” Taubenberger told AFP.
The study also highlighted how A(H1N1) flu is hitting younger people harder than seasonal flu.
Only one of the fatalities in the study sample was over the age of 60. Twenty-four of the 34 were under 50.
Nine in 10 of the victims had underlying health conditions, including cardiac and respiratory disease, suppressed immune systems, and pregnancy, that were known risk factors in previous pandemics, the study found.
But the 2009 swine flu pandemic added a new chronic health condition to the list: obesity.
Seventy-two percent of the adults and adolescents in the study were obese and nearly half were morbidly obese.
“Obesity was not identified in past pandemics, and it’s unclear what the link is between obesity and flu,” Taubenberger said.
The study was published in the online edition of the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
Israel has conducted renewed military sweeps this month of parts of northern Gaza where it had declared the end of major operations in January
world13 hours ago
One station is scheduled to return to service next week, after 'all necessary maintenance and testing jobs have been completed'
uae13 hours ago
Individuals that are physically active tend to ignore mild pain, considering it a normal part of exercise or sports
uae13 hours ago
The campus is set to become the largest dedicated hub for AI and technology companies in the Middle East and North Africa
uae14 hours ago
Dravid's tenure comes to an end after the T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and West Indies
sports14 hours ago
Stand-in skipper Jitesh believes the absence of key England players will not affect his side's morale on Sunday
sports15 hours ago
Netanyahu came under personal attack from Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for failing to rule out an Israeli government in Gaza after the war
world15 hours ago
The fund is designed to finance the production of artistic and creative works in film, music, performances, and video games
uae15 hours ago