New York - In the rare cases where the H1N1 virus killer, researchers have found, it penetrates deep into the lungs, causing great damage - a pattern similar to that which killed millions over the previous flu pandemics in 1918 and the 1957th
The New York Office of Chief Medical Examiner reviewed journals autopsy microscopic slides of 34 people with H1N1 who died between May 15 and July 9, 2009, in the first days of the pandemic.
The report found that among these deaths, inflammation and damage to the lungs extend all the way to the alveoli, small bags at the far end of the lungs' airways.
"Overall, flu remains in the upper airways," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "It clearly shows the virus has the ability to infect and cause inflammation and destruction of cells in the trachea, right down to small cells in the lungs.
"The cells in the lungs are directly affected by the virus," says Fauci.
The damage occurs in computer scans as opaque patches, which normally does not occur in the lungs and prevents lung function.
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An echo of previous reports, the study, published online in Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, also revealed that 91 percent of the dead were people with underlying health problems, and most occurred in people between 25 and 49 years old.
More than half of the deaths were caused by bacterial pneumonia.
"The secondary bacterial infection causes inflammation," says Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. "The socks in the lungs, and suddenly the lungs as a body can do its main task."
Obesity has become a factor in 72 percent of H1N1 deaths, a finding which has raised concern among infectious disease experts.
"It was a striking result," said Schaffner. "It contributes to a very significant way to what we know about the risk of serious outcome of H1N1 infection. We are watching with obesity as a risk factor for H1N1 death."
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The survey provides interesting insight into the mechanism behind the H1N1 deaths, but will not alter the current response to the virus, "says Fauci. GM Hot News
