Has Bird Flu Become Human Hemorrhagic Pneumonia?

By James Donahue

When influenza patients recently started dying of bleeding lungs during sudden bouts of pneumonia-like symptoms in the Ukraine some Russian scientists called the disease a mutated form of the H1N1 virus and dubbed the name a Black Lung Mutation.

That is because autopsies revealed that the victims were asphyxiated, their lungs black and hardened like coal.

The new form of this bug brought medical specialists from the World Health Organization (WHO) to the scene. But the WHO reported that all that was found was a variation of the H1N1 influenza virus. No cause for alarm.

Yet the reports of mystery influenza type deaths have persisted, last week spreading into China where the Xinhua news agency reported 27 mysterious deaths in and around villages in Sichuan province. Another 41 people in the area were seriously ill, the report stated.

And the CDC this week reported possible “hemorrhagic pneumonia” cases among influenza patients who died in the United States. The agency is asking physicians to be on the lookout for clusters of cases like this. The CDC report was carefully drafted, claiming that the cases to date have been isolated, and was obviously designed not to alarm anybody.

In spite of refusals on the part of WHO and the CDC to make statements, it is appearing more and more obvious that something very dangerous is developing as people die of a yet unnamed and unidentified illness. Some Internet blogs are suggesting a biological terrorist attack, although its global impact implies something more accidental.

An English language newspaper in Singapore, The Straits Times, quoted an Internet site, Boxun.com, as reporting a massive bird die-off in Qinghai province, just north-west of Sichuan, and suggests that the H5N1 virus, or dreaded bird flu, is returning this winter with a vengeance.

And to make things worse, the story suggests that somehow the Ebola gene has in some strange way gotten mixed with H5N1.

The story said: “Pittsburgh-based genomics expert Henry Niman told the Straits Times he has noticed a gene in H5N1 ‘that is an exact match for an Ebola gene. So it is possible that a dual infection in birds or people may be leading to a new H5N1 – or a new Ebola virus.’”

Niman said it is possible for such a mutation to occur. But to happen, both viruses need to somehow find their way into the same host cell. And that strongly suggests human manipulation to create such a union.

Would some crazed scientist do such a foolish stunt? The answer is yes they would, and they have. And the scientists who did it worked for the prestigious pharmaceutical firm Baxter International in Deerfield, Illinois. They not only mixed the genes of these dangerous viruses, but they created a toxic vaccine and “accidentally” shipped it to medical distributors in what one report estimated was as many as 18 different countries.

The blunder was uncovered by the National Microbiology Laboratory in Canada and the World Health Organization was immediately notified.

Another report stated that the contaminated samples with the bird flu virus were shipped to laboratories in Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic.

Bloomberg News reporters Jason Gale and Michelle Fay Cortez have looked into this story and assure everybody that the Baxter International “error” was a close call that “could have been a major incident.” They say the problem was discovered after lab ferrets began dying after receiving the vaccine. Fortunately the labs were testing the vaccine on animals before giving it to humans.

At least that is the official story.