Scientists in the UK are conducting tests on a virus known as Ukrainian flu, which has so far killed 189 people in the Ukraine.

The Daily Mail reports that a doctor in west Ukraine has told of the ‘alarming’ effects of the flu virus, which has so far infected one million people in the country:

'We have carried out postmortems on two victims and found their lungs are as black as charcoal,’ said the unnamed doctor. 'They look like they have been burned. It's terrifying.’

Poland has already called on the European Union to take action amid fears that the virus could spread – Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania have all instigated health checks for Ukrainians entering their countries and Slovakia has closed two of its five borders.

The Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko has approached the World Health Organization (WHO) for help and specialists are carrying out tests in Kiev and Lviv to try and discover the source of the virus.

The president said in a TV interview that two strains of seasonal flu and a Californian flu virus had ‘come together’ in the Ukraine:

'People are dying. The epidemic is killing doctors. This is absolutely inconceivable in the 21st Century,’ said President Yushenko.

A total of four people have died in Lviv – two in the 22 to 35 age group and two over the age of 60.

Emergency hospital chief doctor Myron Borysevych has diagnosed the disease as viral pneumonia and samples have been sent to Kiev for analysis – he does not believe the virus is H1N1.

The Medical Research Centre at Mill Hill in north London is also testing samples and preliminary results have been obtained, but scientists are waiting for the results from further samples of the virus being cultured in the laboratory.

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