The (A)H1N1 flu pandemic seems to be ebbing away, at least in the Netherlands, where it is known as Mexican flu. However, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment has announced the first death in the Netherlands from a mutated variant of the virus. The man died on Sunday at the University Medical Centre in Groningen.

There have also been reports that the virus is mutating in several other countries. Mutations have been identified in Norway, the US, and Japan. In France two patients who have died were infected by this variation of the (A)H1N1 virus.
 
But according to virologist Ab Osterhaus of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam there is no reason for panic. Even though Tamiflu can become less effective under the influence of a mutating virus, there is still the vaccine...

Photo: A monument in downtown Lviv, Ukraine featuring dogs wearing face masks and a sign proclaiming 'Life is more important than ambitions and image - be guarded!' EPA/YURKO MORYKVAS