D225G is the common denominator and the problem.
According to Dr. Anne Schuchat, Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases CDC,”The mutations that were described recently are interesting, they suggest that the virus could mutate to potential changes that could lead to more virulence. The mutations though have been seen in mild cases as well as severe cases in Norway and Ukraine. “
The WHO has isolated a mutation on receptor binding domain D225G which is the exact same receptor binding domain that had mutated in the Spanish Flu virus of the 1918 pandemic. The 1918 pandemic killed approximately 50 million people. The main cause of death in the Ukraine D225G mutation has been bleeding on the lung which leads to total destruction of the lung tissue In Texas, A hospital spokesman has confirmed the second recorded H1N1 related death in Nacogdoches County. The 53-year-old oil rig worker from Enid, Oklahoma died Friday at 3:50 p.m., and his roommate, a 55-year-old oil rig worker from Mississippi, who passed away Thursday morning as a result of H1N1.
The death of two roommates within 24 hours of each others raises concerns that they were infected with a lethal contagious form of the virus. Like the Ukrainian virus, the receptor binding domain change evolves D225G. D225G was identified during the 1918 pandemic in lung samples from victims in New York in 1918 and London in 1919.
In type II lung alveolar cells, D225G is a receptor binding domain that influences tissue tropism and allows the virus to target alpha 2,3 receptors causing the hemorrhagic response. Many of the fatal cases in the United States have also involved ARDS and hemorrhagic lungs. The increasing number of deaths, including the cluster described in Texas raises concerns that D225G is gaining traction.