New superbug kills 189 in Ukraine

A report in the Daily Mail Online says British scientists are examining a strain of swine flu that's behind a deadly Ukrainian outbreak to see if the virus has mutated.

So far 189 people have died from it and more than one million have been infected in the country.

The Mail says some doctors have likened the symptoms to those seen in many of the victims of the Spanish flu which caused millions of deaths worldwide after the World War One.

It quoted an unnamed doctor in western Ukraine told of horrying deaths. "We have carried out post mortems on two victims and found their lungs are as black as charcoal...They look like they have been burned. It's terrifying."

Neighbouring Poland has called on the EU to take action, fearing the mystery virus may spread westwards, the Mail said adding that Russia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Romania have already launched health checks on Ukrainians entering their territory.

It said Slovakia has closed two of five border crossings.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has called in the World Health Organisation.

"People are dying. The epidemic is killing doctors. This is absolutely inconceivable in the 21st Century," the paper quoted him as saying. Universities, schools and nurseries have been closed, public meetings have been banned and theatres shut.

The Medical Research council labs in Mill Hill North London are conducting tests on the virus from Ukraine.

The Mail quoted a spokesman as saying the labs have received some preliminary but the person declined to give details."We did not have enough of the virus samples so we will have to grow some more before we can come to a conclusive decision about its nature," the spokesman said.